Sometimes Silence Is Better
by Happykid44
Summary: Chapter Eight is now up. Sorry for the wait. I had school.
1. Chapter 1

Different. I didn't feel any different than a normal human being but will I seem different? Will I act out of place? I hoped not. The last thing I needed was to seem like some twenty pound weakling that could barely take out the trash. Or act like a complete and total preppy person! I hate preppy people. I don't know why. Maybe it's the extra use of pink or the fact that they automatically become the most popular people in the universe of school. I never really understood that either.

Anyway... back to the different talk. There are many ways to be different such as: different hair colours, different skin tones, different eye colours, different laugh, different religion, etc. I mean there are like a million ways to be different. You could be considered beautiful or considered ugly; tall or short; seeing or blind; cruel or kind. Hey that rhymed. Hey, it did the rhyme-y thing again. I am a mad genius. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Eh. Back to the matter at hand. In my case, it's a battle between being able to hear or being deaf. Oddly enough, I became deaf. It happened when I was three.

I'll spare you the sad details though.

So I here I was, sitting in the shotgun seat of Mom's car, not at all ready to start a new year at a new school. It was January and I was trying extremely hard to feel any less different than people who always could hear. I can hear too but only if I wear my hearing aids. The hearing aids are only because about three months ago I got hit by a bus. It happened when I was walking to the mall to get some new books for Christmas. They were going to be for Mom. I preferred to start shopping early so when it got close to Christmas I could spend money on gifts for myself. I wasn't paying attention to what was going on around me. Some guy was chasing his three year old son down the sidewalk and accidentally shoved me into the road. I lost my balance and tumbled back before falling smack-down in the middle of the crosswalk. I stood up just as some speeding car rammed me. It wasn't fun.

I broke my left arm and right leg. The guy that shoved me, he did say excuse me but seeing as I couldn't hear...well you get the idea. The doctors fixed the broken bones of my body and took a casting of my ear so that 2 or 3 weeks later my aids would be formed to fit me only. After they were formed they worked on my head for a while and 'poof' I can hear. Not as good as normal people but I still can hear which I think is suckish because if I turned out deaf, just keep me deaf. Don't mess with fate! The only good thing that came with this was that I could hear music again. I kind of missed it. Two tutors came to my house while my mom scoured New York for schools that could fit a new student in. One tutor was for school work only and she came three days a week. The other one used to be a therapist and now taught deaf kids how to form actual words. He came everyday. About a month later, Mom found a school that would take me. I felt that it was strange that out of the many schools New York had all of them were filled. Now I'm stuck having to go to this school instead of the boarding school for the deaf in Florida where I used to go. I actually had friends there and my grandmother who could drop down at any moment. Because of her my school gave me a discount because the principal's father dated her once. She was pretty when she didn't have wrinkles and was young. The principal's father still likes my grandmother. It scares me.

So as I had said before I was sitting in the car, bored and pissed off that I had to go to another school. Mom blamed my deafness on her forgetting to take me to my doctor's appointment so naturally it's all her fault that I'm deaf and that I broke my arm and leg. No, of course it's not the fault of the person who got sick and went deaf. It's the fault of her mother. Strange how parents think that when their kids don't turn out right it's always their faults. Well, she did raise me so I guess it is her fault.

I hummed the tune to Old McDonald and brushed my hair back lightly with my the tips of fingers, tucking it behind my ear as I'd done since I could remember. In my lap was the book, _The Lost Island of Tamarind_. Mom had bought it on one of her many vacations. She's a writer and takes sudden trips to help her write but she's not the best author and even she admits to it. If I were to tell you her name right now you would have no clue who she is. Her name, if you're curious, it's Lily Porter and for some strange reason she has an obsession with oranges. She told me that it was because when she and my father, who is dead, met she had on orange smelling perfume. She was on a date that night and being the clumsy, uncoordinated teenager she had been she tripped and fell smack-down into my father's dear arms. She said he stalked her for weeks and even enrolled into her high school until she finally gave up and allowed him one date, then another and another and another, practically a million dates until I was born then he died. Strangled himself in his sleep, Mom always told me. Some people though say that he didn't love me and committed suicide. I threw rocks at them from behind. Then I run like the devil actually wants my soul.

Anyway, I was at the part where Maya, Penny and Simon finally meet Helix's caretaker because his parents are dead. Even though I'd I had read both books in the series so far I was curious as to when Helix and Maya would finally just realize they like each other. I'm not much of a romance fanatic but when I know as a fact that two people in the book are good for each other I get really interested in their romantic aspects. Sometimes they don't even get together and I end up scribbling down a bunch of different fantasy tales between the two. I'm a strange child, but you get used to it. Eventually. Anyway, a lot of people probably do that as well, so, yeah.

The book itself was enjoyable (it was always enjoyable, no matter how long it took me to finish) but today I just wasn't feeling it. I have dyslexia but that has never stopped me from loving to read. I love books and I like to read. Ever since I got my hearing aids I've gone out and bought audio books. It soothes me sometimes, to listen to a book rather than read it (which takes forever to do by the way). Once e-books came out I bought a nook and increased the font to the largest there was and read it or I'd buy the book copy on the internet and paste it to Microsoft Word, increase the font or size of the page and read it. See, I use my brain. Back to the point. In the middle of an old Elvis song Mom had just put in, I asked her the same question I asked this morning and yesterday and the day before that and the day before that and the day before that and the day before - well you get the point.

"Do I really have to go there? I mean, the one in Florida even offered a scholarship just to keep me. And you know I'm smart enough to keep up the GPA they have for scholarship students and-" I began.

She cut me off. "Emily, I have told you a thousand times and the answer is still the same. No! I almost lost you because of that school and I don't plan on doing that again. I've told you I already was having doubts and now being hit by that car has certified those doubts."

Did I mention at my old school, when I was eight, the science department set on fire one time? In the rush to get out, by accident, I got shoved to the back of the room and locked inside. The teachers were trying to close it off only into the science room but when they counted they forgot that there was actually seventeen students, not sixteen. I was fine with it though. I'm forgotten a lot. It helps to be quiet and closed off. That and I was the shortest kid in the entire class. My idea of safety was to hide underneath a bunch of desks. Everyone had pushed their desks together to plan projects. I managed to save the work I had done in my hurrying and scurrying to the underside of the group of desks and hid there for the entire four minutes until the fire department came. We were pretty close to it. Smoke had filled my lungs but strangely enough I wasn't afraid of the fact that I might die or get asthma or anything. It was like my guardian angel was watching me at that exact moment and decided whilst he/she was protecting me she/he might as well make me unafraid. I only got afraid when water washed over me. I'm fine with showers and baths but when I'm not in a shower stall or bathroom if feels strange to get wet. I don't swim either so that's probably the root of the problem. I was saved and I lived. I wasn't burned to the point of deeply etched scars either. The only scar I still have from the fire is one on my left knee that is small and short, shaped like a line and pops out like a mosquito bite. But that doesn't matter right now.

After several minutes of my sulky behavior we pulled into the school parking lot. Mom reminded me that I had to catch the bus from now on, that I should respect all my teachers, be a good girl at which I said that in a cliched high school most of the good girls actually turn out to be bad in disguise. She laughed and then gave me a serious look.

"Don't be a cliche good girl then," she grumbled. "Now be the depressed, hateful teenager I know you are and explore high school."

On my way to the front doors I yelled back at her, "I'm not depressed and hateful! I'm sulky and irritated! High school is too weird to explore anyway!"

As I walked towards the door, I caught the sight of several couples, including two boys, making out. It wasn't exactly gross and no one else seemed bothered by it. Anyway, high school and college are both about exploring every single possibility, right? I'm still not exploring it, though. I'll just stick to the shadows and hope to get on in my sad, pathetic life. Maybe I'll be a writer like Mom or an artist. I'll adopt two kids and they'll live with me and my twenty-three cats and two guard dogs in my small house on a beach so the kids can have fun on the weekends and I can be able to help them make sand castles and sometime in my life I'll be able to swim so I can teach them easily. Yeah, I have my entire life all planned out so I'm ready for the next steps. Except now when I accidentally walked into some boy. Actually he walked into me but still we crashed and all my stuff went flying. I randomly grabbed my things, muttered sorry to him and disappeared through the doors of the high school.

What a way to start my new year, huh?

I found the office easy enough, considering it was the first room inside the building if you were to enter through the front doors and it had a huge sign above the door that read "OFFICE". The dear, dear office secretary shuffled through everything on her extremely messy desk just to get my stuff - information, actually - for the new year. From her I got: my new schedule, a piece of paper that gave me some information about where my classes where, my locker number and my locker combination. She sent me on my way after informing me that once she sorted out the mess on her wonderful desk she'd go outside and find me a suitable guide for the school. I nodded and headed off to put my things away. I checked the schedule to see what classes I'd have until lunch. I glanced over it a couple times before thinking, _You can get and advanced placement (AP) in art? What the freaking hell is homeroom?_ Shrugging my shoulders, I heaved my things into my locker. I pulled out all the books I had for my morning classes and placed all the books I'd need for my afternoon classes underneath my backpack which was hanging by the left hook in the locker. I hummed the theme song for Indiana Jones while I walked back to the office. Apparently, some bell had gone off outside because soon the entire hallways were filled with loud talkative people. Once I got back to the office, my clothing ruffled up because of the amount of shoving I had to do, the secretary hadn't finished organizing her desk but she left anyway to find me a proper guide. I don't think she particularly enjoyed my humming of the Indiana Jones theme song.

When she came back, about ten minutes later, a tall boy entered in with her. The sad thing was that it was the boy I crashed into. Aw, crap. Somebody up there obviously likes messing with me. As the office secretary searched her slightly cleaned desk for a slip that informed his teachers that he was late because he was showing me around, I adjusted my view of him to get a good look on his outside features and his inside features. I wondered how many new kids they got that they had to make slips for the guides. Maybe some of the freshmen go away the week prior to the start of school and need a guide to show them around because they missed the orientation or something.

As he chatted with the flustered secretary I saw he was wearing a dark blue t-shirt underneath his jacket. The t-shirt had small green swirls surrounding different areas and written at the top were the words 'MY LIFE IS SWIRLY' in a bright purple. Amusing. The jacket though kind of scared me. It was black with a blood red devil on the back and flames were supposed to surround it like a picture frame. Some people's taste in clothing worry me. Thankfully, he wore the most simple of pants. White-wash jeans with the sign of splattered paint on the bottom. The assumption that he was built for strength rather than speed came to my mind because every time he adjusted his position I saw the ripple of muscles beneath his jacket. That and his t-shirt hugged quite close to his chest. A football player maybe?

He held himself loosely, giving me the impression that he was a nonchalant type of person. The way he talked with the secretary and the way she always replied back contorted into my mind that he was good with adults. Once she located the slip she signed her name with a sweeping flourish and handed it to him. Wait a minute. Did she just wink at him? Awkward. He turned to me, showing sparkling emerald orbs that were once hidden behind the long bangs/fringes of his sandy-coloured hair. I shook my head to rid myself of the haziness that suddenly clouded my mind and partly vision. Before I did, when the haziness was setting in I saw him but more evil looking and demon like. He was on a football field. I was suspended in mid-air. There was someone in front of him but whoever it was I couldn't tell. The image of the person was to faint and dark. As everything snapped into view I noticed that he looked slightly mad and pissed off but once I blinked he was flashing me a smile of perfectly whitened teeth and the anger disappeared as though it never existed. Maybe it didn't. Strange.

He guided me to my homeroom, smiled and asked if I could the teacher that he was right down the hall in the science room, finishing up some work. I nodded. I don't talk much, mainly because my voice sounds funny. If a person is deaf before they learn how to speak their voice is rough and hard to understand. I became deaf when I was three. I just started to speak by then. My voice hasn't been used for a long time so it sounds like a mixture between understandable American talk and hard to understand deaf talk. It just sounds stupid so I don't talk to people a lot. Silently I slipped through the door and seated myself at a desk in the far back. Kids were now piling into the classroom. I curled up into my seat and pulled out my mini sketch pad and drew cats. They stood or were flat on their backs. They were sleeping or playing with yarn. In all the spaces I drew small flowers that had stems that curved in every direction. The cats ended up being black or brown and the flowers were blue and yellow. One of the standing cats had an ear that was bigger than the other one but it seemed cute enough for me so I didn't erase it like I did with the one who had weird looking ear. After much struggling with my mind, trying to demand it into thinking that the ear was not to small, I ended up redoing both of his pointy ears a little bigger and coloured in the white spaces that were left. That was better for me. He seemed much cuter though so I guess it was good my mind is stubborn. Huh.

I examined each one before I decided that like this one that was on his side, gnawing on a pen cap. Just like one of my kittens at home. I drew him on a separate piece of paper much bigger and with the page all to his own. Above his cute little head, I wrote: "To: Angel and Michael. From: Your Currently Bored and Insane Owner". I'd give it them when I want to see them shred it up into nothing.

"You're currently insane? Wouldn't you be in a mental institution?" some random person asked.

I turned and the first thing that came to mind was, 'Why the heck are all the girls staring at him like he's a god or something?' The boy was actually not all that impressive. In fact he looked downright random. He seemed like one of the track stars or swim team member at my dearly missed deaf school. They were wonderful and one was the cutest thing on Mother Earth. Not that I expressed anything towards him but he was cute. Sweet to every other girl but me. I don't exist.

A teacher entered the classroom and everyone snapped to attention while he examined my bigger portrait of the cat. She turned and smiled at me before noticing the wonderful boy. Once she did her smile fell and an irritated scowl appeared on her face. She looked menacing.

"I take it that because you are here Percy, Mr. Di Angelo won't be coming today?" she asked.

Percy grinned and nodded. "Nico's not coming til third period, Ms. Hangshaw."

She just nodded with the scowl still etched into her features. I wondered why this boy, Nico, wasn't coming to class. He probably just had an appointment that he couldn't miss. Percy held his hand out and began to compliment me on my picture and how he wants me to make one to give to Nico when he gets there. I nodded and once again, straight after I took his hand clouds crossed my vision and I saw him but he looked younger. He standing in a large room with twelve gigantic seats in a sort of U shape that were burned and destroyed. Some were still on fire. He was standing in front of a heavily bleeding girl with long, blonde hair. In his hands was a small, bronze knife. In front of him was a young man collapsing on the floor. They were all wearing armor.

The young man spoke to Percy with hoarse voice. "You can't... can't do it yourself. He'll break my control. He'll defend himself. Only my hand. I know where. I can... can keep him controlled."

Keep who controlled? When the hell was this? Is this supposed to be some weird daydream I'm having? Percy didn't seemed to know what he was doing as the person began to smoke and glow. He looked back at the girl, a boy with goat legs cradling her as though in a shield. Percy turned his head back to the young man in front of him, his arms raised to strike the knife into the body.

"Please. No time," the person groaned.

And just as Percy decided to hand him the knife the scene disappeared. Percy had let go of my hand and I was staring after him while he walked away. Three emotions scattered themselves to the top of my emotion pool: confusion, scaredness and sickness.

"Yes. He's a charming boy but please no staring," Ms. Hangshaw snapped at me.

My head snapped to attention. I think I understand why she's a Ms. and not a Mrs. Thankfully she didn't make me stand up and introduce myself to the swarm of kids in the room. Instead she left to go complain about how her computer wasn't turning on again. After she was gone, someone ducked underneath her desk and plugged her computer back to life. Kids were suddenly much more talkative now, laughing and sharing details of forced family get togethers or their weekends. Some went to the computers that were lined up against the wall and played games; others did the homework they hadn't done. Me? I was sitting there, as stiff as ice. One of my eyes were twitching uncontrollably whilst the other was staring at the board in front of me.

I have this... problem, I guess you could call it. Through skin-to-skin contact I have a habit of making up odd and sometimes disturbing scenarios in my head. A few times my making things up happen to be true. That's why I don't have friends. I'm afraid they'll run off and gossip about how weird I am. When I make up these scenarios I end up sometimes freezing up and becoming a statuette. I don't know why I do it but I've never tried to figure it out. I like to pretend that there's nothing wrong with me and that I'm naturally a loner. My life kind of sucks that way. I still play make-believe like I'm five. I'm weird and strange but hey, you're stuck with me and if you've decide my life is too weird for you well, then you'd be missing out on some great stuff. So are you going to stick with, Emily Porter, a deaf, green-eyed oddity that is on an angel-high or not? Well, if not you'd be missing out on one heck of an adventure. Choose because it's the only thing you can do at this point.

* * *

><p>Me: So who like the new version? Anybody? No one? Wait no there's a small hand in the back. Yes?<br>Small Hand in the back: I hafta go. I rweally gotta go.  
>Me: Uh, go where exactly?<br>Small Hand in the back: PEE!  
>Me: Right, the bathroom is the second door on the left from the art room.<br>Small Hand in the back rushes off.  
>Me: So I take it no one liked the new version.<br>*Silence*  
>Me: (sighs) I suck.<p>

So really did anyone like it?

-Happykid44


	2. Chapter 2

After about three minutes my eye stopped twitching and I managed to gain enough common sense to snap out of my frozen demeanor. I muttered something under my breath about how it was natural and I should get over it. Then as I pulled out a blank piece of paper I realized two things: One, I didn't know what the strange adult/boy person wanted me to draw and Two, I didn't know who the heck Nico was. Shrugging my shoulders, I put pencil to paper and decided to draw that girl from the image I had constructed though I did her a slight bit older looking.

Humming as I sketched her out I thought about why I was doing this. I didn't even know Perry or whatever the hell his name was. Why do I always get the weird ones? Shaking my head I blanked out my thought and returned back to the image of my 35th hallucination. Yeah I counted them. I don't actually know why do though. Maybe it's because I have no life. I'm an epic fail. Ah well. Back to my life and not my personality.

Eventually, Ms. Hangshaw came back with an IT guy who, once he thoroughly examined the computer, rolled his eyes and left the room mumbling something about delusional women. Ms. Hangshaw looked immensely annoyed though her expression soon relaxed once a girl who'd been quietly reading at her seat got up and told her something. It was probably about the person who pulled out the plug that connected the computer to the electricity. Oh well none of my business.

I frowned as I realized the room's temperature seemed to drop. No one else to notice it though. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, saying to myself in my head that I was being stupid and that temperature doesn't just drop that suddenly. As I opened my eyes I saw a horrible sight. Instead of Ms. Hangshaw standing where she was, a creepy looking monster was there. It's hair - if you could call it that - were snakes that slithered around and snapped around. It looked as though it were going to eat the boy Ms. Hangshaw had called over. It's eyes were a light, steely gray that made me shiver in fear. The skin of the beast was wrinkled and flabby even around the face giving the monster an even more terrifying look. The dress Ms. Hangshaw had been wearing was decked out on the monster but it was splattered with blood and small pieces of orange cloth stuck to the dried blood.

I froze as she looked at me and hid my face in my arms, breathing deeply. Hallucination 36. When I raised my head Ms. Hangshaw was back in the monster's place, looking at me with a curious expression. I inhaled a deep sigh of relief and went back to the picture but I couldn't shake the feeling of dread from my emotions. Something was wrong here and I didn't know if it was worth figuring out what.

* * *

><p>The morning went by quickly. Ms. Hangshaw did ask where the boy was but someone beat me to answer her. The boy who had told me to tell Ms. Hangshaw where he was when she asked was extremely kind as he took me to all my morning classes but he never once revealed his name and I felt as though I was supposed to know him from somewhere. It was the jacket that reminded me of something hidden in the giant cluster of memories I had rumbling around in my head. Something about it just seemed so familiar. Once lunch came around I realized how famished I was. I opened up my locker and ran my hand through my bag waiting for the handle of my lunch box to run over it. When I felt the rough handle brush my fingers lightly. I reached further and grabbed it, tugging it through the mess of papers I had shoved in there as I was leaving the house. What? I like to draw. Is that a crime now?<p>

The boy showed me to the lunch room and waved to a couple kids in far corner before dragging me off towards them. Wow. So I'm his friend now or something. When did that happen? I mulled over the days events as he hauled me to his other friends. As we got over there I admired his group of friends.

Sitting of to the far left corner of the square table sat a boy with an easy-going smile on his face. His hair was mess of blonde curls and gel. He had gray eyes that twinkled softly as the sunlight that streamed down from the windows fell upon them. He smiled sweetly at me, the kind of smile a guy uses when he wants to become friends. In all my life it only once happened to me. A light blue jacket covered his obvious muscular chest and he wore baggy black jeans. His skin was like the colour of vanilla ice cream, soft and creamy looking. I wondered how many girls chased him around. He kept one hand in his pocket as he used the other one to salute the boy beside me and pretended to bow in his seat for me. I blushed a bright rosy red. A lot of girls then.

Sitting on the opposite side of that boy was as short, nerdy looking boy, with his face stuck in a book. He raised one hand in a short greeting to us and used to other one to scribble something down. I noticed one on of his fingers he wore a black ring with the face of an owl on it. When he looked back at his book he swore under breath, and the girl sitting beside him whupped him upside the head. His bushy, brown hair jumped as her slender hand pushed it up and then fell back neatly onto his head. His skin reminded me of hot chocolate after the marshmallows have melted into the deep brown swirl of cocoa and you added a slight bit of milk. He had on thin, black framed glasses that I noticed as he looked up to smile sheepishly at the girl who was looking displeased by his swearing. Maybe because he did it in front of a new comer to the formed group I assumed since the blonde just laughed and shook his head. The replied to the boy's laughter by sticking her tongue out at him. Beneath the walls of glass I could see brown muddy looking eyes that seemed to pull me into it, going on forever and ever. He pulled his black coat farther up as to hid himself in it. He had on a green shirt with an owl that looked mighty on the front. It was holding a spear and shield and and decked out in shining gray armor. He had on simple black dress pants.

I lost concentration of his eyes as girl turned to me and I almost fell as these beautiful pale blue eyes stared questioning at me. They gleamed faintly, even without a tweak of mischief hidden inside them. Black hair was pulled into a ponytail and from what I could see it was long and sleek, falling down slowly in waves, never touch the pale pink cloth upon her back. She had apparently natural tan skin as some do or she went somewhere warm and hot during the break, as her skin was still nicely tanned even though it was winter, and most kids had their skin paled a little bit by now. As I mentioned, she was dressing a pale pink shirt with the arms of a thick white jacket wrapped around her small waist. Her pants were light green and flowing as they came down to the floor below her white sneakers. On her wrist was a shining yellow watch and a pearl beaded bracelet that had a single charm of a red rose on it.

"Hey guys. This is my sister's best friend Emily," he said.

I blinked. So I did I know him?

"I don't think she knows you dude," the blonde haired guy laughed. "She looks really confused."

The boy frowned. "You don't remember me. The boy you and Alice used to make eat mud pies when we were five?"

"Danny?" I questioned as sudden recognition washed over me.

"Yeah Danny. Daniel Daniels," he laughed.

Everyone at the table laughed as he said his name out loud. Daniel was the one boy who had ever signaled at me that smile I'd been telling you that the blonde boy had. I remember when I first met Daniel and his ever so compelling sister Alice. They weren't related by blood though. His mother had married her father after they dated for two years. I was their friend at the time their parents had been engaged. I was seven and it was the middle of summer when they announced their engagement. Alice and Daniel absolutely loathed each other and finding out that they were going to be step-siblings didn't fare well with either of them.

**-Flashback-**

My mother and Alice's father both worked at the same place; a small flower shop called The Garden Emporium so they knew each other quite well. I was five years old and my mother had finally finished her first book. She had sent me over to Alice's babysitter's home where Alice was as her father and my mother were going to the publisher. He was there for moral support. A new kid was coming over and, lo and behold, whoever shall it but Daniel.

It had rained heavily the night before, but the ground outside was dry enough that by noon we were allowed to run around in the backyard. It was still a bit muddy in some areas and mud was flung around at everyone. Alice didn't leave the house so neither did I. She was the leader and I just followed. She's was my only friend before Daniel came along, so I stuck to her like glue. Daniel taunted her but she never wavered so he filled his hands with mud and as one kid was leaving the house after going to the bathroom he swung the mud at her. It splattered all over her dress. Alice had quite the temper so it was best you didn't make her mad. She ran outside and shoved him down beating him with her tiny fists. I had taught her the alphabet in sign language a few weeks back so she sign-spelt the words MUD PIES.

I gathered a few other kids and we made about six mud pies. As I carried one back to Alice she forced Daniel to open his mouth and got me to put it in his mouth then she covered his mouth and pinched his nose until he was so desperate for air that he ate it. We gave him four mud pies to eat before he managed to regain his strength and push Alice off. He ran over to the bushes and puked. Alice just smiled her pleased smile and pulled me along back into the house. She rummaged through her things before she found two outfits she deemed suitable enough for us to where. On rainy muddy days Alice always packed extra clothing. Actually, on any type of day she packed extra clothing. She was just that way.

It was from that day on that Daniel and Alice hated one another and I was the silent one being pushed back and forth.

**-Change Scene-**

Their parents decided to announce their engagement on the day I got out of school for the summer, when both were usually content and easy going. It happened to be that way because I hadn't seen them in a long time and they both knew I'd like nothing more than for them to be nice to each other while we caught up and had fun. Alice had dragged me into a random store and bought me a single outfit to wear on special occasions which meant to her anytime she called and told me to put in on. Sometimes she'd call in the middle of the night; other times at five in the morning. Daniel had gotten me a vanilla ice cream cone (my favourite for anyone who cares) and we went to the park to watch Daniel compete in a skateboarding competition with some of the other kids.

A few moments after we got home and my mom had set out the delicious half chocolate, half vanilla cake they decided to announce their recent engagement. Unfortunately, their plan, despite how good it was, went horribly wrong and my mother's traditional Out-Of-School Cake was thrown, screams were made and Alice went as far as to try to murder Daniel. The entire time I sat their wondering why out of all the people in the world I got stuck with the dysfunctional ones as friends. Eventually I couldn't take it anymore and I ran away to my room to hide. Nobody noticed and at the time I honestly doubted they cared where I was. I slung myself into my bed and cried I remember I spent half an hour sobbing into my pillows before I calmed down. Cleo, my always purring Egyptian Mau, walked around my bed and nudged me. I turned around and there they were, standing in the door, their head hung so I couldn't see their entire faces, looking ashamed. I turned back around and buried my head back into my pillows. It took a long time but they managed to tear the pillows from my face. From that day on the swore not hate each other as much around me.

**-Change Scene-**

Then I turned ten and found out that they were moving to Florida. The day they told me was a bright sunny day. Alice and Daniel had both called in for me which was surprising as they let each both talk in equal amounts of time. They told me they had a surprise for me and that they would come over in a few hours. As they came the sun had been hidden behind dark gray clouds and the rain started to pour down in heavy drops. I tried to usher them inside but they wouldn't come in. Alice was crying. She told me they were leaving in two weeks. I didn't know they meant forever until Daniel who was trying to be the strong one told me. A part of my heart died. It's all really faint after that but I remember going into shock and having to be taken to the hospital. I went to hospital a lot as a child.

**-End of Flashback-**

The funny thing is we emailed (mostly them) each other at least once every week. You think one of them would've mentioned that they came back but no, they didn't. Probably arguing over who would tell me. That was the one thing that always stuck with me. Both wanted and had to have my affection more than the other did. Both of hem had to better than the other in doing things for me. It was like an obsession. It was laughable sometimes and really irritating other times.

Anyway, after his mother married Alice's father he didn't want his last name changed but it happened anyway. Every time since then I always giggled quietly to myself whenever I thought about his name. Daniel Dylan Daniels. The Big D, as his new stepfather used to say. How I did not recognize him, I will never understand.

"Daniel!" the schreeching voice shook me from my memories. I turned around to see the face of my best friend glowering at her brother.

"I thought I told you that when Emily gets here she's sitting with me," she snapped, grabbing my arm and tugging me hard off of the bench.

_Here we go again_, I thought bitterly. _Thus cometh the need for love and the battle shall comence. I should write my own Bible. I'd be a natural._

Daniel stood up and pulled my other arm towards him, growling out the words, "No! She's sitting with ME!"

They argued back and forth, throwing down my arms which allowed me to make my hurried escape. Daniel's friends distracted them from seeing me snatch my lunch bag and run away. May God bless them with plates full of pie, because pie is just naturally that good. I ran out to the courtyard where there weren't a lot of kids. A few were having snowball fights and others were sitting at the wooden tables, talking and laughing about some television show that had just been on. I jogged over to the nearest, least crowded table and plopped down at the far edge, trying my best not to eavesdrop into the conversation of the two boys sitting there. It didn't matter much anyway. They shut up as soon as I became within five feet of the table.

One of the boys kind of reminded me of that kid that told me to draw him the picture except a little different. For starters he was much shorter but that might have been because he was sitting down and his hair was a bit straighter. He wore really bright colours like orange and yellow and whitewash jeans with bits of splattered white paint on it. He glanced once over to his friend then to me where I noticed his eyes. A dark sea green with bits of aquamarine flecks in them. Being deaf kind of enhances your vision. That's why I'm so awesome. Who am I kidding? I don't need to lie to you people. Back to the subject.

The boy opposite him was glaring at me like I was the bane of his existence. The first thing I noticed was the contrast the two committed. While the previously mentioned seemed bright and happy this boy seemed dark. I didn't think meeting him in a dark, secluded alley with no one around seemed like a good idea. We both turned from each other before I could analyze him further. The one thing that stuck to me mind were his eyes. While the black boy who was a friend of Daniel had soft chocolate eyes, this boy had eyes that seemed...evil. Darker than a sin it seemed like to me. They were endless and bottomless pits that pulled you and drowned you within them, made you curious as to what happened that was so bad that could make those eyes seem so... so... so dead. I shivered as I turned. As I marveled about his eyes I realized slowly that there was something hidden deep inside them, a sort of anger and sadness. Regret.

The two boys never continued their discussion out loud but instead turned to passing notes between the two them. The rustle of paper and the occasional sigh of annoyance kept striking my attention. I pulled out the piece of paper I was using for drawing that girl from it's place as a bookmark and tried to finish it without getting distracted by the hole I could feel burning into my back.

"Nico," the bright boy whined.

The name woke up from brain. I finished the girl's arm hurriedly, pushing the picture towards the darker boy. Nico. The named seemed sweet and strange all at the same time. As it had before when Perry, no Percy, had told me his name the first thing that came to mind was necro. This time it somewhat fit his image.

"It's for your friend. Perry or something," I muttered.

I turned back to my book and sandwich. The sandwich was peanut butter. It stuck to the roof of my mouth. I washed it down with water, trying to push away the feelings of stupidity. I wasn't supposed to be listening to them.

"Thanks," he murmured. "You're pretty good."

"You're welcome and thank you," I replied without turning.

He cleared his throat. I turned to look at him. His friend was staring at him with a 'Don't do it' look on his face. Nico ignored him.

"Could you draw a picture for me?" he asked.

Before I could reply I heard an excited and happy yell from behind me. Alice was jumping up and down as she spotted me, screaming stuff I really don't want to put down right now at Daniel. Daniel was yelling at her about how I didn't know they were her friends and it didn't count. They began to argue again. I returned to my original position before they interrupted my answer but it didn't matter. He was distracted by a girl who was walking over here. She made Alice look like a negative seven on the beauty scale. She made me look like a negative infinity on the beauty scale. She stepped around me and plopped her pink clothed butt down on the bench before leaning in towards Nico. I turned before I had to witness anything that would make me feel minor and uncomfortable. I returned to reading, listening to the sound of Alice and Daniel's constant screaming. It made me feel content, even with the currently making out couple beside me. I missed out on a lot of stuff not being able to hear.

* * *

><p>The end of the day had finally come and I was so happy and pleased. I had a million things to do, a million itty bitty places to go and people to glare at. The day though fun and happy was tiring. I had to do a bunch of homework that most of the teachers apologized or giving me because it was my first day at a new school and I was trying to settle into it, which, in the middle of the school year was a slight complicated. It was hard, not signing out every answer I gave and when I did sign it by accident the class would laugh and the teacher would chuckle, asking me to repeat in a language everyone in the room knew, so, I would, but my would be as red as a tomato. At the end of my last class which was science, I found myself wondering how many types of red my face would turn before it exploded. I don't think my cheeks have been as red as they were today.<p>

Beside all that I still had Daniel and Alice's bickering to deal with. When I'd been sitting beside the couple and their friend who looked disgusted as they continued Alice has chosen the destination of murder. Again. I figured the teacher would break it up but as they tried to pull her away from him she screamed, "Pedophile!" which caused the rest of the student body to come out. They couldn't tear her away from him and if they did she'd wrench herself from their grips and attack. Eventually, I realized that just sitting and watching wasn't doing away good so I got up. I snatched the knife she been trying to kill her brother with, gave her a glare, helped Daniel up and walked away after I told them that they were being immature I no longer wanted to be friends with them. They both chased after me, promising to be better and kinder and nicer and bunch of other things that they would never be. After lunch we had one class together. Science. I decided I hated whoever came up with the idea that at schools when you learn Science you have to have lab partners.

In the end I got paired up with Joshua, a sandy haired boy. He was funny and reminded me of the sun with his bright... aura. I don't know. All I did was close my eyes, as the tears of laughter and joy began to come and when I opened them, I wiped them off, looked at him and saw a bright shining yellow ball of light outlining him all over like the sun was sucking him in; like it was claiming him as its own. Then I blinked and it was gone. I decided on paranoia and pretended as though I'd never seen it, but every time I looked at him I found myself hoping that it was real, that it would show again. It's was brilliant, and I wished somewhat desperately that someone could see that in me, see a bright shining light that surrounded my body and made me seem somewhat angelic. Having people think I'm an angel would be cool, but I need wings and a free entry pass into heaven which I unfortunately don't have but still it's the thought that counts.

The bus rolled in through a thin cloud of exhaust. A bright yellow that boomed out at me, I was shoved forcefully out of the way for the kids who decided that the small once-deaf-but-currently-hearing girl didn't matter. Stumbling I almost fell but managed to catch my balance before my butt made acquaintance with the cemented ground. Luckily, Daniel and Alice had been picked up by a different bus already so they weren't trying to destroy the ones who pushed me. As the kinder students let me walk in, I noticed that all the kids had flocked the back seats, leaving empty seats for me up at the front. Feeling a bit of freedom, I plopped my stuff down onto the seat beside me and sighed in pleasure. I could feel that humming buzz of the bus underneath me. By the time the last kid had seated themselves no one had dared to approach me or ask for my seat. They were all perfectly content among the friends they had grown up with and knew quite well. No one needed to learn to infiltrate the new kid. I was just a system among the rest, untested and forgotten by existence.

The bus roared to life and humming buzz grew stronger against me. I heard the faint cry of yells of stop so the bus did as it was instructed. Nico and his beautiful girlfriend of who's name I don't know entered the bus. The kids talk suddenly grew quieter, as Nico nodded his thanks to the bus driver. No one moved for the newcomers. I feel the radiation of fear dripping off of his body like sweat, which was probably the reason that no one moved an inch. The looks of pleasure and happiness turned to looks of nervousness and fear. He sighed, like he didn't like the looks people gave him, ran a pale hand through his mess of black hair and kissed her on the cheek. She smiled and retreated to the back where an empty seat was. I assumed by the giggles between her and the girl on the seat beside her that they were friends. Nico then chose to side next to me once he saw that his girlfriend was well attended to. Running his hand through his hair once again, he sighed softly and glanced by me. Something in his eyes made me wonder what I did or what had happened that was so wrong to have such hatred and anger stare back at me, even though his facial features said different.

_It's always the eyes, _my grandmother would laugh when I visited her on weekends. _They can tell a story no one but the person containing them and the person who can see deeply will ever understand. Learn the feelings and emotions in a person's eyes and you will understand them more than anything. Few can shield it away, never to be understood and even less that that can see to the depths of emotion and soul._

The last time she told me that was two days after I got out of the hospital, after the ear operations. She was on her death bed, smiling and telling me how she knew I was going to be able to see stories no one could even imagine, how she knew I was special, more special than any special person in the world. She died a few minutes after informing me that, holding onto my hand as though it was where she wanted to be when she died. In a way, I think if she hadn't told me that or if I held her hand harder maybe she'd still be alive. Maybe I could've kept her in the land of the living. I try to cling, even now, to the memories of her and that's the one that sticks like glue.

Nico's eyes told me a depressing story of a boy who once had laughter and happiness. A story where the boy suddenly was left alone, and hatred took over. Then there was a light source of pleasure that came, but it was not enough to overwrite the anger inside. The boy found more happiness but the emptiness in him still was there. Suddenly news he didn't want appeared and he saw something or someone that caused the raw anger to rip itself back up and be directed it to the person or object once seen. It was a sad story. I didn't like it. I wondered what he lost. Who he lost, perhaps.

I shook my head and turned, a chill running up my spine as I contemplated his story. In the window, I saw the faint outline of a drop-dead gorgeous woman standing in the rain outside the bus, staring at me. I blinked. When did it start raining? I rubbed my eyes and looked back. Nothing. No lady at all. Just a trick of the light. I stared hard at the window, willing the rain to wash away the pain that had erupted in me as I had unraveled Nico's story.

My grandmother had made it seem like a blessing. Instead it seemed like a curse to be able to understand emotions and feelings through a person's eyes. It's the one thing I know I've never hallucinated about considering my grandmother made me find the story within her old, dying cat when I was eight. It was pretty and beautiful. So much love throughout it, and then everything turned bad. Her kittens taken away from her when she was young. An evil old man that let her grow with cancer until she was fragile and almost dead. Pain, needles, anger, blood coursing down her back as the mean tomcat attacked her for the food she got herself constantly. It hurt so bad even when the pleasuring moments seeped in. I pulled away at the last moment, tears streaming down my face. My grandmother told me that even though it seemed bad at the time it was going to be a good thing to have. That God wouldn't have given it unless I needed it. I deduced from that that God hated me and that I would be going to Hell because he gave me such a rotten thing. My grandmother just laughed told me that I had to find young kids with angels watching over them that hadn't been corrupted by sin just yet to make it go away. Louisa - the cat - had a rough story and her story was something my eight year old mind would never have been able to come up with.

After staring at the window, I chose a happy memory that I had found within a little girl, about six years old. I set on that, relishing in the feelings of joy until the pain, hatred, and everlasting anger left. I could feel Nico's look on me as the bus lurched for its first stop.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

I nodded. "Fine."

He grinned and said, "Oh. It's just that you looked a bit out of it. Wouldn't want you to miss your stop."

"Thank you," I murmured, sounding sleepy.

I was sleepy a lot often nowadays. I kept daydreaming more often as well. It was normal behaviour, my mother had insisted. I was tired of the world and wanted one that was better, nicer to me. I had a feeling she was keeping something from me. I didn't bother asking for the same reasons I didn't bother asking why I hallucinated or why I had to have both ADHD and dyslexia. She would just insist that it was how I was meant to be and wouldn't let another word arise on the matter by giving me some work to do or calling a friend.

I slipped my fingers into my lap and pulled my feet up onto the seat. My small form made it possible. I quickly and quietly tucked myself within the safe comfort of my own body. The pitter patter of the rain drummed loudly in my senses. My hearing was going on overdrive. It was too much. I lowered the sound on my hearing aids, revealing them to Nico who cocked his head to the side. He looked like a dog. I buried my head, realizing my mistake. I had not had class with him yet and I prayed I could go on my life without him knowing. Something about his girlfriend scared me and I had a feeling that he told her everything, even if it were something bad like murder or theft. It was just the way she clung to him and they way they seemed together that made me think like that. I felt a sharp jab in my left shoulder. I raised my head slightly so that only one eye peered over the edge of my arm.

'Deaf,' Nico signed.

I sat up abruptly. Sign language.

'You know my language?' I asked, smiling this stupid look.

He shook his head and laughed.

"When I was younger a substitute of a class I had taught us a few words in our spare time. That's the only one I remember," he said in words rather than my preferred choice of language. "So I have no absolute idea what you just said. Sorry."

He gave me an apologetic grin and watched me for a reaction. I wondered in my own mind how I should react. Angry because he got my hopes up. Joy because he at least knew something which meant he was capable of being taught. Then his story came flooding back. I retreated in the small corner of the chair, where the side met the wall of the bus and nodded quickly once before turning my head. Ignore. It usually worked and Nico wasn't insistent so I was safe.

I curled up against the cool glass of the window, the sound of rain hitting it softly calming my senses. My eyes fluttered closed, the tips brushing against the smooth feel of the glass. I tried to imagine sand being created into glass. The image wouldn't sit so I gave up and ran over a few of today's lessons in my head. Suddenly I felt a compelling need to look up as though something dangerous was watching me. The woman was standing in the sidewalk, a bright pink umbrella over her head. She stood out from the rest of the pedestrians considering she wore soft light colours for spring or the ending of winter while everyone wore darker colours to fit the depressing mood. She place a slim, manicured finger against her full lips and gestured to me. Then she walked away, her long dark hair floating in the breeze.

I pulled back, confused. Who was she and why was she following me? Maybe she was another hallucination. Maybe I was daydreaming again except in my daydreams I'm not stalked by beautiful woman who have manicured finger nails. Hell, I'm not stalked at all. Stalkers are creepy and weird. Maybe I made a mistake and she wasn't looking at me. I sighed. I was not helping myself at all. My brain clearly didn't believe what it was saying which sounds weird because its both my brain, but you know what I mean. I hope that you did anyway.

I noticed Nico's dark reflection in the glass and found that he was watching me. Not the stuff going on in the bus. Not his girlfriend. Not the outside world. Me. That did nothing for my self-confidence and my face turned red. I willed it to go away but not before Nico noticed. He grinned and looked away. Eventually we pulled into my street. I rushed off the bus in a hurry. It was home. I was home. HOME! The scent of rain flooded my overrun senses, clouding out a very important fact that I realized as I came to the porch steps. The lights were on but my mom's car wasn't parked in the driveway. I slowed to a stop as I noticed a figure in the windows through the curtains.

My first instinct was to run. I went with my seventh instinct since all the others were still about running away and calling the police. I touched the handle and turned it but the door didn't open. It was locked. I frowned. Unless the thief crawled in through the cat door there was no way he could get in. The windows were locked tightly and had an automatic alarm system tapped into each. The backdoor was non-exsistent so how could the thief get in through there? I tried to convince myself it was my mom home early but couldn't and quietly unlocked the door. For reasons unknown to me the alarm system didn't go to the front door so there was no beep to alert the burglar that someone else was in the room. I quietly pulled out my umbrella which, Alice liked because you could bash people's heads in with it. She told me that while she glowered at Daniel. I guessed she was thinking of his head bashed in which was a sickening sight to my seven year old mind. My umbrella was new back then. We just celebrated it's eighth birthday. Any excuse for cake.

Back to point. I would use my umbrella a safety tool. The lights suddenly went out and I flipped them back on, rushing after the direction I saw a piece of cloth go in. I grabbed the man (pretty sure it was a man. I mean you don't get many female burglars nowadays) and something came flooding into my head. Everything darkened.

**-Hallucination #37-**

Off in a far corner of dark room stood a man, staring into a mirror with a bored look on his face. He rolled his eyes and muttered something in a different language that I couldn't understand. Maybe if he signed it. A little boy was tugging at his sleeves.

"Uncle Thantos! You're not watching me!" he shrieked.

Thantos (why does that strike me as a name I should know) turned to face the boy but walked right past him. The little boy stared at his uncle bitterly and picked up a discarded teddy bear. I recognized it. It was mine. My mom said she gave it to me when I was five. She said it was my father's at one point. I shivered.

**-The Scene Change-**

The scene blurred and suddenly I was watching a teenage boy watch a girl through a pair of binoculars. He had one hand gripping branch and the tips of his shoes were grazing the next branch. He watched the girl I realized to be my mother as I'd seen pictures of her when she was my age. She was laughing with a group of friends when a boy ran up to her and they separated from the group, the other girls giggling and she held hands with the boy. The boy in the tree did not seem to like it as he set the binoculars in their case and was going to do something when someone yelled, "Morpheus!" He got distracted and lost his grip. He should have died but he got up and shoved his ribs back inside his body, glaring at the kids looking at him.

"She's too good for you," the other boy said. "Anyway, she doesn't even like you. To her you're an arrogant bastard that needs to serve time in Hell."

Morpheus (another strange name I should know) glared. "She'll like me." His face fell softly. "It wouldn't be fair if she didn't."

-**The Scene Change-**

"Your daughter, Morpheus. I need her for the army," a scratchy rasping voice breathed.

Morpheus was sitting atop a large black chair but it didn't seem to fit him. I finally got a better look of him. His hair was gray though he didn't look old and his skin was a nice thin line between pale and non-pale. He had icy blue eyes that darkened immediately at the words of daughter, army and need. He didn't like that.

"NO! I told you. She's staying out of it," Morpheus snapped.

"We will win with her. A single touch and all their weaknesses will be found. They will fall easily," the voice hissed.

It wanted this girl.

**-End of Hallucination #37-**

The man's arm ripped out of my grip before I could finish the rest of the hallucination and he literally disappeared. Maybe I imagined him but I had the strangest feeling I didn't.

* * *

><p>Hi. An epic failure right.<p>

Me: *sigh* I feel so terrible.  
>Beta: Yeah.<br>Me: What are you doing? You're supposed to encourage me!  
>Beta: *blinks innocently* I am? I thought I was supposed to honest.<br>Emily: No. You're supposed to lie. In the words of Dean Winchester from Supernatural, it's how you become president.  
>Me: You watch Supernatural. *squeals and starts talking about Supernatural*<br>Beta: Uh guys. What's Supernatural?  
>Me &amp; Emily: *shoot Beta in the head* Idiot.<br>Beta: *dodges and survives* :P

Supernatural. One of the greatest TV shows in history. Anyway, if you can guess who Daniel's godly parent is (yes he's a demigod, duh) then you can have a sneak peak of the next chapter, like 3,000 words or something.

REVIEW.

-Happykid44


	3. Chapter 3

I stared at the paper. My mom had told come home a few minutes after my hallucination of the man. I didn't tell her about him just in case he never exsisted. The paper was an assignment I had to do for Math. I'm considerably good at Math but get me on Algebra and we will have problems. Addition, subtraction, mutiplication and division I can do. If you try to get me to do Algebra I will fail. The paper. Algebra. Why was I bothering even doing it if I knew I was going to fail? Because I'm an idiot and I needed something to do. All the other bits and pieces of homework I finished. This stupid paper was left.

A sudden slam against my window woke me up from my haze of equations. I got up slowly and looked out of the glass. It was still raining but the tree in front of my window blocked the some of the rain from getting through so vision through the window was somewhat clear. Nothing was there. Just rain and a tree. I couldn't see anything else so I pushed it off as a part of my imagination and strolled back to my bed.

Five minutes later another rap from the window broke my intense concentration. This time I opened the window and looked everywhere. I almost fell out of the window, searching for the thing that rapped my window. The branches couldn't have done it because the wind was blowing hard enough to move them.

I sighed and closed the windows, shaking the water droplets out of my mess of hair. The water falling from my hair sprayed my cat, Cleo, who had peacefully curled herself in a random spot on my floor. She hissed at me then walked over to the window to sleep on the ledge. She likes the sound of rain. I'll never know why. I throught cats didn't like like thunder of strom or water but she loves all of it. She ate a lot of catnip when she was young. Maybe that's why.

Ten minutes later there was another rap. I ignored it then realized something really odd. Each rap had come everytime I had moved my face away from the window's view. I waited and watched the window. Nothing. No raps or signs of movement. I turned my head, positioning my ears on high alert and turned up the volume level for my aids, waiting for the next rap. It happened a few seconds after I moved my head around towards my dumb Math assignment. I quickly turned my head just in time to see a rock fall from where it was hovering in mid air.

I stared and then slowly got up. My cat was hissing and baring her thin, small fangs at some unknown... object or... person. I noticed the shift in one the branches. I opened the window and reached out, trying to grab something. Anything. Then I felt cloth. A smooth shirt. I gripped it tightly and moved my hand up. The person struggled in my grip but I held on. Skin touched by the cold aftermath of the winter day. I shivered and pulled back. The only thing I saw after the person materialized for a second in front of me, jumped off the branch and ran away was the way the ground seemed to soften as his feet touched it and the boy, dark haired and pale skinned, throw a rock towards me.

I noticed one thing and realized two other other things. I noticed the rock he threw at me was hovering until I placed my hand underneath it and I realized that I never saw his face and that he was spying on me and/or trying to get my attention both of which I figured I was hallucinating again. What boy besides Daniel would ever want to get my attention? I wasn't all that pretty or popular or great at anything besides art. I just wasn't.

* * *

><p>I kept the rock in my pocket the next day during school. Every now and then I'd check to make it was in there, just to make sure the moment was real. I'd feel somewhat relieved everytime I felt its soft smooth texture. It was a pretty rock with a mixture of colours set into. Forest green and ocean blue washed around on one side while the bloodiest of reds made war upon the other side. It was a round stone that gave of qualities of relief and pleasure. I breezed through the day feeling peaceful. My imagination stretched to the far limits of it being a magic rock and the boy being my knight in shining armor. I doubted that it was true but it still sounded nice when I thought about it.<p>

I found that one class I shared with Nico was Art. First of all, art is a beautiful subject that I refuse to share with idiots who argue and throw off the happy mood that I find within it. Nico and the boy - his name was Charles - were the only ones of their group that actually seemed to want to learn, even if they weren't all that serious about at it.

Mrs. Tucker was the art teacher and seemed very strict and very serious with a joking odd humor. You know, the type of teacher that look you in the eye and say something that sounds so serious but makes you sort of laugh inside. In total honesty she scared me with her strict ways but that's what made her enjoyable.

She went around telling everyone what needed to be painted darker and what needed to be made lighter; what sketches needed to be redone and what sketches could start being painted. My picture was of a child, a little boy. He was curled up into a corner of a dark room, his bloodstained fingers reaching out. Above him was a picture of the lady who was lying at the floor with blood pumping from her chest and head. The top of the lady's head was missing, a few bits of her brain being seen at the side of her skull. I still don't know what caused me to draw a zombie little boy but I did.

When Mrs. Tucker got to my artwork I was in the back room trying to find a new canvas. I didn't like the other one. It was just too depressing and scary. I liked horror but usually I need to be in mood for horror. I don't really like it to be spontaneous. Otherwise it's freaks me out and I only liked to be freaked out by horror on Halloween and when I watch Supernatural.

I blinked as I began thinking of my beloved horror show. It was probably the reason why I snuck my kittens into my room to protect me every night during the summer, why I'm still doing it and why I'm somewhat paranoid. When I was eight I used to carry a small plastic bag of salt everywhere and when some one seemed scary, I'd scream and throw some of the salt on them then run away. I was taken to a therapist a few days after I started doing that. I don't do it anymore.

When I turned around with my new canvas, I shuffled my way to my seat. Mrs. Tucker was admiring my zombie. She frowned as she ran her fingers over the sketch. I stopped behind her and waited so I could get to my seat. She must've realized I was behind her because she picked the drawing up and walked over to her desk with it. I placed the new canvas onto the easle and began a new sketch. There was about thirty minutes left of class. I could finish a new one by then.

At the end of class Mrs. Tucker assigned us a project for homework to do with a partner. It was a one week assignment where we had to write a two paged niography on any successful artist that is or was alive. After one kid asked if they do comic book artists she included that in as well.

"So the partners are Charles and Sydney, Alexandra and Lucy, Jessica and Jacob, Emily and Nico," she started.

I tuned out after she said our names. Nico turned and gave me a slight wave and a sort of smile/grimace. I forced a smile and raised my hand in greeting. I turned away to be with my thoughts. _If I get an F because of you, I'll slit your throat in your sleep_, I thought.

* * *

><p>I staggered to my locker as the waves of people in tightly packed crowds bombarded me, shoving me into doors and walls and the occasional floor. As my feet finally managed to stumble their way to my locker I noticed Daniel standing there, grinning. In one hand he held my lunch box; in the other a single piece of paper that had my combination on it.<p>

"You should watch where this lands, oh young warrior," he chuckled, handing it to me.

"Warrior, I am not," I snapped as I snatched both of my items from his slender fingers. "Murderer though, oh how true."

He shrugged and walked with me to the lunch room. I pocketed my combination paper as we approached the open doors of the cafeteria. As we entered the chatty area, we were awaited by Alice who smirked as Daniel's prideful walk drooped. Apparently they decided on who gets me on which day. Eh. Daniel waved goodbye as he strolled to his friends. I felt my arm being tugged in a certain left direction towards a group of kids. Charles was in the group. So was Nico. And his wonderful girlfriend. I hoped they wouldn't make out in front of me again.

Alice was yammering on about something which I could not understand due to the fact that it was an incoherent babble coming out of her mouth. It was just like when I taught her how to do sign language. Back then, I still didn't understand a word she said and I was the one that was deaf and I was the one who taught her sign language. I didn't get it at all. Mom told me that in the soccansional situtation the student learns faster than the teacher. Of course that depends on the type of mental range the student has. Alice's must be pretty big then. Eh.

Quietly I perched myself softly at the edge of the picnic table and pulled out a folded piece of paper I had in my pocket. I smoothed it out over the wooden table and added length to the tail of my male cat person. It remined me of my mom - even though she is female - who is a mega cat person. I think if she had a choice between enternal happiness and a bag full of cats/kitten she'd go with the felines (cats/kittens).

The group of friends of whom I wasn't aquainted with talked on and on about some television (TV) show that had aired last night. All but Charles ignored me. He slid over opposite me and looked at the drawing. Clearing his throat inaudibly, he gave me his insight in a hushed tone of voice.

"To make it ironic you could have the cat person hugging, kissing or mating with a dog person." He smiled a small smile and pulled back from his leaning structure.

I looked at my picture. It had enough space for another person and all I'd have to do would be to change the position of the arms. I nodded my thanks and began to erase the arms, sketching out a person at first before I added the tail and ears. I left t for a few moments to drink some water when a boy came over. At first I thought he was in the wrong place because he looked so short like an eleven year old. He sat down next to Charles and ruffled his own hair.

"What's up with you, Benji?" Charles questioned.

"Three words: Too. Much. Homework," the boy replied.

Charles just chuckled, squeezing the boy's side. The boy looked at me. He held out one winter tanned hand and gave a slight smile with a grimace of annoyance hidden underneath. He either had a lot of homework or automatically hated me. I hoped it wasn't the latter.

"The name's Benjamin Whitlock. You?" he inquired.

I shook his hand. "Emily. Porter."

He nodded. Charles snuck a sweet peck on Benjamin's lips. I blinked. What? Charles must've noticed my confused look because he grinned. Benjamin was a bright red tomatoe and he covered his face with his hands as he was pulled into Charles's lap. Everyone had gone immediantely quiet, choosing to watch Benjamin get humilated rather than save him from it.

"Yay. Now I get to sing the song." Benjamin just looked at his lover through the peaks of his fingers and moaned. Clearing his throat Charles began.

"_I once met a lad in Parie  
>Oh a beauty was he.<br>We frolicked and played  
>Did a bunch of Charades<br>And had a great time, did we."_

I was giggling and laughing with everyone else, while poor Benjamin was ramming his head against the table. I think he was mortified. Charles had a smooth voice but it wasn't the grestest and broke in certain parts where it would've been nice if it hadn't. Nico joined in for the next verse. He wasn't exactly the greatest singer either. Maybe a little worse than Charles but it was cute because Benjamin just struggled to get away and Charles refused to let him. Yeah, he was was humilated.

_"Benjamin was his name  
>Oh how it was framed<br>Within the small cockles  
>Of my heart.<br>I loved him forever  
>And would never ever<br>Let him leave my arms."_

Everyone cheered and clapped. That must've been the end. I snickered at the way Benjamin was now whacking Charles with his hands, threatening to murder him in his sleep.

"Then I'll be my room with the door and windows locked, having fun," Charles said, in between the whacks and punches going down on his body.

"Then I'll be in your room before I murder you." Benjamin stopped hitting and Charles raised his eyes.

"So we'll be together, having that type of fun then." He smirked at Benjamin, who sat there with his mouth open.

"EW! EW! EW! EW! EW! EW! EW! EW! EW! EW! EW! EW! EW! EW! You digusting pervert!"

Charles grabbed Banjmin's hands and a girl sitting beside them grabbed Benjamin around the waist and pulled him back before he could start attacking Charles all over again.

"Really, sweetheart. I thought I was allowed to input our sexual activities to our friends. I didn't know it wasn't allowed," Charles murmured loud enough for us all to hear.

"I still hate you."

Benjamin went to go sit besides me and crossed his arms in a huffy way, his blonde hair flopped over his eyes. He blew them out the way and glowered at Charles. Charles looked genuinely sad. I kind of felt sorry for him but there are certain things you say and don't say about your relationship with someone. It's kind of a rule. I've never dated and I still know that. Charles, of course, was simply trying to embarass his love. I patted Benjamin's back sympathically.

Poor gay relationships.

* * *

><p>When the bus finally came I was soaking wet. I was wet for three reasons: a) because the wind caught my extra jacket that I was pulling out and four cars ran over it, b) because my umbrella refused to stay down and over my head once again becuase of the wind and c) because everyone else had cowered underneath the protection of umbrellas and the roof. We weren't allowed to go inside.<p>

All the bus driver did was look at me before say I was not allowed on the bus because of how wet I was. Nico hung back even after Jessica, his girlifriend, got on. He looked at me.

"My bike's out of the shop if you'd like to catch a ride home," he told me.

I sighed. It wasn't like anything better was coming along so I nodded.

"How come Jessica isn't coming with you?" I asked.

He handed me a black helmet before answering.

"She says the helmet messes up her hair and she doesn't like motorcycles." He shook his head, the rain splashing into my clothing, and laughed lightly. "I always thought girls were strange." He sent me an apologetic look. "No offense."

I didn't reply but cocked my head at him. Boys were strange to girls and girls were strange to boys. It was somewhat funny when you thought about it. Girls had fixed thoughts about boys and boys had fixed thoughts about girls that were both different stereotypical types. So when girls did something that went over the stereotypical range boys got confused and vice versa. Maybe I should become a shrink instead. I think too much about the minds of human beings. Art can be a hobby because really what is an adult life like without a hobby of some sort.

Nico opened up the basket at the back of the bike and pulled on another helmet. It was black as well. What is up with him and black. Was in love with the colour or something. Yeesh. As I was deep in thought the roar of the motorcycle caught me off guard. It caused me to jump back and nearly fall into one of the metal fences that were posted around the school. It was loud. I licked my lips, my nerves getting a bit frazzled. Maybe I shouldn't get on it. I mean there are millions of people who get in accidents on motorcycles every single day. I can't afford a lawyer to sue Nico for damaging me in any way.

"You nervous?" I nodded at the question. Nico sighed and helped me tie up the helmet. "It's not that scary and I'll go really slow and obey the law and crap if you want." I nodded again, unable to say anything.

He slid on and backed up, gesturing to the back seat for me. I hopped on and clutched Nico's waist as we began to move. _'And now I can't get off because we're moving,'_ I thought to myself. _'I'm going to die. I'm going to die.'_ We started to go faster and had moved into traffic as I picked up my 'I'm going to die' mantra. I clutched Nico's stomach hader and I heard him yell, "Ease up. You're going to cut off my concentration." If anything I was put into even more fear but I forced myself to relax.

Apparently he had memorized where I lived from yesterday because as I was in complete fear he had turned the corners and went up the streets that led to my house. As we got closer I relaxed and manged to even pull myself from being permanantly pressed into his back. I closed my eyes and the wind and rain whipped around us. It felt nice despite it being cold. My senses had gone partly numb though and I guess my nerves of touch had gone haywire because I felt really warm.

"My house is right there," I yelled to him.

He nodded and we pulled into my driveway just as you could see my mom's car come down the street.

Remembering something, I cleared my throat as he made to get back on the motorcycle. "Considering that you're here already we should probably start on the project," I said.

He blinked and then slapped his forehead. "Oh right."

I nodded and opened the door. Angel stared at me from where she had placed herself in front of the door. I always felt that every cat or kitten that I've owned is more human than cat. She peered around our feet to see outside and got up to walk back to the couch when she noticed that it was raining. I closed the door and shook out my hair. Michael, my other kitten, had walked around the corner and jumped back as pellets of water hit him. He meowed in a sad way.

"My poor baby," I murmured, picking him up and rocking him gently back and forth like a baby.

The newscaster on the televison was heard suddenly. Nico suddenly became tense. I giggled and gestured for him to come over. Angel was now pressing the buttons of the television remote with her paws, the guide appearing out of nowhere on the screen. She turned her small white head and looked at me expectantly. I scrolled through the channels, trying to find a movie that they both would enjoy. Eventually I landed on a repeat of _'The Million Dollar Duck' _and pressed play. Michael hopped out of my arms and sprawled down onto of his sister, pushing her down flat. She just whacked him on the nose and resumed watching the movie. I ran my fingers of her tail and began walking away.

"Smart cat there," Nico chuckled, turning his head back.

"Kitten," I corrected, feeling home. "She's a kitten."

He nodded and followed me to the kitchen. I plopped a can of Diet Coke I found in the fridge down on the table and pulled out a bottle of Ribena. Good ol' grape juice. Nico took the Diet Coke gratefully and slurped it down as I spoke. We ticked off the several ideas of artists going through my head and sorted through the ones we preferred. So far we had chosen Comic Book Artists, Renaissance Painters and Graphic Design Artists.

The Renaissance one was because we doubted anyone else would do it as most had probably not even thought of historic artists as an option. Everyone would, more or less, just stick with well known artists or the ones that are alive. Not many of the kids in our class would dare touch Graphic Design or Renaissance Painters and because the girls in the class were paired up with all of the boys we also doubted that Comic Book Artists would not even be a thought. I had a bunch of comic books, mangas and graphics so it was allowed.

We pondered over our choices and ended up doing the universal choice maker: Eeny Meeny Miny Moe. Smart desicion, right? We ended up on Comic Book so Nico followed me to my room, waiting patiently outside as I got my laptop. My mother had entered the house while we were discussing our choices and made it very clear that the only way a boy was going in my room with me was if she was dead or trusted him, like she did with Daniel. She always liked him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Nico looking around my room. He focused on some paintings I had hung up. He pointed to one.

"Who did that?" I glanced up and looked at where he was pointing.

My cheeks turned red, a deep dark red. "Um. Me?"

"Cool," he replied back. "That's really cool."

I unplugged my laptop and started it up. Nico moved to the side and asked me a really strange question.

"I'm not allowed to go in your room with you, right?"

I exited the room and nodded, not understanding what the point was. He nodded back at me and then walked straight into my room, right towards my painting. That's when I got it. If I wasn't in the my bedroom he could go in but if I was he couldn't. Thank you, God, for loopholes. I shook my head and laughed, leaning against the frame of the door as he had. Occasionally he tell me something he liked about it and inspected every little detail of all the pictures I've done since the day I started to draw. This truly and completely was an odd, amusing boy.

* * *

><p>It took three days for the project to be done but a lot of things about my life had changed past that. On days where it was Alice's turn to have me and it was raining Nico would take me home on his bike. I had learned the names of all Daniel's new friends. The girl's name was Lucy. The black boy was called Matthew and the blonde haired one went by John. Alice and Daniel demanded my attention equally during spring break and it was complicated to please them both when they no longer had time for each other in their lives. I managed though by having a Supernatural marathon for the first six days where we watched each season. I can't remember how I managed for the rest of the break but all I know was that I did.<p>

Louise, Angel and Matthew's mother, had a new litter of kittens, three boys and five girls, right on the first day of March. I gave two each to Alice and Daniel, the last boy to Charles, two girls to Lucy and the last kitten, a small black one who I thought died, to Nico. He actually came up to me and specifically asked for her. I don't know why but I thought it was cute that he had a specific one in mind.

So my school year was coming to an end and it had been completely normal. That is why what happened next really and truly surprised me.

I woke up with the sun in my eyes. My curtains were open but that was normal. Cleo, being the type of cat that got up ten minutes before the sun rose, would knock them out of place because that's where she slept and for some strange reason she like to watch the sun rise. Moaning I threw a pillow at her. She got up, all huffy like, and began to lick my face. I pushed her away so she went a different route to getting me up. She walked over to the door and made sure it was closed then she got back to me and screeched that stupid cat yowl in my ear.

"I'm up. I'm up." I picked her up and dragged her into the bathroom with me.

I pulled off my clothes and pulled the over as I stepped into the tub. Humming to myself i slowly slid down to a sitting position and let the hot water pour over me. I was about to go back to sleep when I heard a loud screech in my ear. My head didn't stop throbbing from the great big wham it got when I jumped up until I finally got out. Cleo purred constantly as though she did nothing wrong and in a way she didn't. She was just making sure I got to school on time even though it was like five in morning and I didn't need to be there until half past eight but it gave me time to make sure everything I needed done was done. I tugged on the articles of clothing that she had pulled in.

My feet sleepily drifted to the kitchen where Michael was pouring some milk into a bowl of cheerios. He did this by having a pushing a small book in front of it and tipping the milk over it. In truth he came up with it on his own after I left a book, an empty cup and a carton of milk on the table to go help my mom with Christmas decorations. It's cute how they're so smart.

I grabbed a spoon from the utensil holder and began eating. Michael stretched his tiny little body and plodded over to his sister. Michael was like a little dalmation. He was completely white but had black spots all over his skinny body: black dots covering one ear; a large dot on his left side; a small smudged diamond-shaped dot on his right and a few dragging down his back to the sides as well. Funny thing is, he drinks out of the toilet. I don't know what happened when he was born but I hope there wasn't a dog in the process of making him. There wasn't with his sister who's only a year older.

Angel actually looks nothing like a cat with her name should. She's completely black with miniscule white dots on her back. The dots are so small I once mistook them for cat litter. She didn't play with me for eight days which sucked. Angel has a habit, which I failed at breaking, of biting people she doesn't like, know or otherwise pisses her off in some way. She will scratch any part of the body that it visible to her little cat eyes and is some what nocturnal. She barely ever wakes up during the day except to eat and use the bathroom or when I come home from wherever I was previously.

Cleo sat on Michael and fell asleep. I could hear Michael meowing his protest out from under her. They are as equally silly as they are smart which makes them overally amusing. I brushed back my hair with my hand, the fringes/bangs gettting in my eyes and snuck Michael out. Cleo ignored me and my hand.

"We really have to get you some boys to play with," I muttered.

In my entire life Michael has been the only male cat I've ever had. I've had eighteen cats in my entire life from the day I was born until now and Micheal was the only boy. Ever. But I don't think he minds much. He doesn't go out and play with the strays that wander around. He's like me. A follower, not a leader. I rubbed his nose. He sneezed. I laughed. The daily routine of my life.

I quickly peeked outside the window. Rain dripped down and smacked the grass. Remember a thought I had when I was little, I laughed and shook my head, Michael nudging my fingers for some more pettings. '_Rain drops are the tears of God when He looks back on the day He lost His most favourite angel,' _I thought. Running over that thought, I tried to remember what caused me to think that. Angels hadn't been in Supernatural yet so it couldn't have been that. Despite my being half Christian and half atheist, my mother was a full atheist so we never when to church. I never read the Bible. I sighed and placed Michael on top of a yellow stool. His green-yellow eyes stared at me, asking so many questions yet getting no answer in reply.

I got all my things ready and sat down on a chair, waiting for seven thirty to come. It was quiet. You couldn't hear anything expect the sound of breathing and the light patter of rain against the windows. I pressed my nose to my legs and closed my eyes. Even before the day I got sick and became deaf I was used to silence. My mother would flit in and out of our house and my grandmother, when she visited, never really spoke to me, choosing to either sleep or watch some drama show on television. It was never that my family was ignoring me. It was more that because my dad was dead I had millions of questions about him and this was their way to avoid answering, by being busier than they should've been. After a while I grew up and realized that no matter how hard I tried they weren't going to answer me so I stopped asking questions. The silence now reminded me of the times that I was left alone; the times when I watched kids play at the park with their parents and wondered why mine wouldn't play with me; the times I felt different; the times I felt pain because I believed no one wanted me around.

Then Alice came to my day care. My being deaf never stopped her from talking to me. The day she met me she took our sitter's sign language book and asked me a million questions. I was overwhelmed by this sudden strike of attention that I didn't know how to answer the questions. She thought it funny. Then Daniel came and my world was filled with pleasured feelings. Eventually it all shattered and my world merely degraded into nothing. I found remorse in my pets and drawing. Those days were the days of depression. The days I wrote sad poems, the days I wondered if my friends would ever come to visit me but they never did, just like they never told me where they had gone to.

Music filled the dead room and I jumped. Louise had twisted our radio's knob and turned it on. Smooth sounds, soft voices and loving lyrics filled the air. I picked up Angel who blinked her eyes and meowed in sleepy protest. We danced around the room, twirling everywhere. I felt alive, my imagination soaring beyond comprehesion. I imagined myself in a white dress, stepping into a ball room. A boy, whose face was blurred, emerged from the darkness of the shadows that held and we slipped into the smooth beats of the song.

_Heart beats fast  
>Colors and promises<br>How to be brave  
>How can I love when I'm afraid to fall<br>Watching you stand alone  
>All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow<em>

_One step closer_

_[Chorus:]_  
><em>I have died everyday waiting for you<em>  
><em>Darling don't be afraid I have loved you<em>  
><em>For a thousand years<em>  
><em>I'll love you for a thousand more<em>

_Time stands still_  
><em>Beauty in all she is<em>  
><em>I will be brave<em>  
><em>I will not let anything take away<em>  
><em>What's standing in front of me<em>  
><em>Every breath<em>  
><em>Every hour has come to this<em>

_One step closer_

_[Chorus:]_  
><em>I have died everyday waiting for you<em>  
><em>Darling don't be afraid I have loved you<em>  
><em>For a thousand years<em>  
><em>I'll love you for a thousand more<em>

_And all along I believed I would find you_  
><em>Time has brought your heart to me<em>  
><em>I have loved you for a thousand years<em>  
><em>I'll love you for a thousand more<em>

_One step closer_  
><em>One step closer<em>

_[Chorus:]_  
><em>I have died everyday waiting for you<em>  
><em>Darling don't be afraid I have loved you<em>  
><em>For a thousand years<em>  
><em>I'll love you for a thousand more<em>

_And all along I believed I would find you_  
><em>Time has brought your heart to me<em>  
><em>I have loved you for a thousand years<em>  
><em>I'll love you for a thousand more<em>

As the song ended I could feel my imagination turning everything to darkness, shadows wrapping everyone in it's thick blanket. I inhaled a long breath and sat down. If a person sung that to me personally I'd feel pretty special. The clocked automatically switched from seven twenty-nine to seven thirty and I grabbed my things. Michael looked at me with his head cocked to one side. He seemed to smile and plodded over to the doorway to the kitchen to turn on the coffeee machine as he did everyday. I smiled and waved.

The bus was coming down the road when a motorcyclist pulled sharply in front of it. The owner pulled the glass casing of his helmet up and gestured for me to hop on. I laughed at Nico who just grinned. When I had made it to the motorcycle he handed me the extra helmet he always had in his basket. We soared through the road. I didn't like going fast but right now everything seemed to fit perfectly into place. I laid my head aginst his back and watched as the rain and the speed made everything seem smudged.

Pulling back from him I settled peacefully against the basket when we pulled into the school grounds. I slid off and handed him back the helmet. His fingers were cold but I was used to this. His excuse for it was that his mother had been admiring the vast forests of Northern Canada when he suddenly decided he wanted to see it too. The frigid air sort of chilled his blood a little and that's why he was always cold skinned. I didn't believe his story but everyone else went with it.

He grinned this happy smile at me, it was happy and so unlike him. It was... nice. Usually you just saw him with a fake smile or a stony look plastered on his face but this... this was genuine. I caught it and trapped within the deep containers of my mind to be taken out whenever I start to wonder if he'll ever be happy about stuff. He frowned.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked, raising a single eyebrow.

I reached out and took one of his hands. "I can read your story." I looked at the hand clasped in mine. "It's sad." His frown deepened into confusion as I looked back up to his eyes. "Finally I see a genuine smile that of a young child. Of a happy person. I don't know. It's makes me feel that you aren't a robot."

"I think that is the most rudest insult anyone has ever told me." His body shook with laughter. "A robot."

I dropped his hand and laughed along with him. It was the first time we'd spoken alone together as whenever we got the chance someone else barged in. He asked about the reading a person's story thing. I told him. He asked me a lot of questions that he never got the chance to ask before. After a while there weren't anymore questions so we just sat on the steps as the bus rolled in. Kids filed off. Some automatically went to a certain spot; others flocked towards their friends. I could see the attention of Nico direct itself to Jessica, who smiled and waved to us... well, him in retrospect. I muttered a quick good-bye and shuffled off. Alice bounded over with Daniel following behind her. She started talking before I even managed to get my hello out. Daniel just rolled his eyes.

"He-" I started.

"You know how I recorded Supernatural in case I'm busy or something. Yeah well I was watching it last night and you know how it's season seven now right? Well I though it was really creepy. I mean Lucifer's come back to haunt Sam and Castiel's going crazy with being God and then there's this new monster and stuff. Well I was watching it last night like I said and I was on episode two and you know Lucifer comes out of nowhere again and starts talking to Sam and I can't help but think 'Please, Luci. Stop turning up the sex appeal. You're making it sound like you were raping Sam in Hell. I mean 'Bunkmate Buddy?' but I thought it was so funny when it happened even though it's really sad because Sam's already suffering with his flashbacks and now he gets to see the guy that he got away from. I mean it's just sad," she said.

"-llo," I finished.

She blinked. "Oh. Hey."

"Hey, Em. How was your morning so far?" Daniel shoved her out of the way.

I shrugged. A breeze brushed my hair back. I would've told them that Nico picked me up but Daniel and Nico aren't exactly on the greatest of terms. They want to destroy each other. No one even knows why, except maybe Charles but he doesn't talk about, saying that he keeps secrets. We talked for a while about random things like Supernatural, pets, people and summer. Normal stuff.

As Daniel and Alice began to argue about the rule they agreed on for the summer, I panned my sight to something of more interest. There was a boy standing across from me. He had one head cocked to the side. It looked like he was trying to listen to something. A breeze blew a bit harsher across us and as Alice started to get louder in their arguement Daniel went silent. His head twitched and he turned to look at boy across from us. His eyes grew wider.

"I have to go," he murmured.

He rushed away, his body moving quickly across the crosswalk. Alice glowered at him or maybe it was the boy. I didn't know. Something was very wrong in this situation. Daniel never walked away from a time he could prove his point against Alice. Anyone else depending on the importance but never Alice. Matthew, Lucy and John had started over to us but when breeze blew again they followed Daniel, brushing past us without a word or wave. I felt shunned and singled out. They'd ignore Alice when they could but in respect for Daniel because I was his friend they didn't ignore me. Why was everyone shoving me away? Did I say or do something? What did this boy have to do with it? So many questions swirling around in my head. I was about to grab Matthew's arm and ask what was going on but the bell rang loud and clear.

Casting a single longing glance and Daniel who was listening to the boy intently I let myself fall into the crowd of the eager school kids. Start school quickly, get out early was the motto apparently. Daniel'd tell me what was going on in homeroom. I was shoved through the entrance of the school. I hoped he would at least.

* * *

><p>We sat in a wide circle. It was the last class of the day. There was no sense in having everyone go to actual classes as we couldn't learn anything new because it was the last day. It was homeroom and we were playing a game called Truth. The rules of the game were simple. A person would ask you a question and you had to tell the truth. Ms. Hangshaw was watching us and making sure we were telling the truth. She had a really good sense of when someone lied. No one could truely lie to her. It seemed like it was impossible.<p>

Daniel had gone home sick after the ten minutes we were in school. So had Matthew and Lucy. John stuck around for two hours but eventually went home as well, Alice had told me during lunch. They shared the same homeroom. I wondered constantly why he would go home for no reason. At first I thought they were getting high and the boy was their supplier. It would explain the way they could get sick so quickly then I remembered that Daniel had beat up a junkie one lunch hour because he would not leave me alone.

I answered the question given to me and zoned out again. I was so out of it that I hadn't even noticed that the bell was ringing which usually jolted me out of whatever day dream I was going through at the time. Hearing was still somewhat new even though it had been around for months now. Nico shook my arm and helped me up.

"Your but is going to be numb if you sit there any longer," he chuckled.

"It's already numb." I rubbed it to get feeling back.

Nico rolled his eyes and started to help with my things but Jessica grabbed him and pulled him out the door, saying how he had to call someone to pick her up to take her somewhere. I pulled my things into my bag.

"Emily, a word if you please," Ms Hangshaw said, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

I stood there and nodded. "Yeah?"

Her lips twisted up into a snarl and her voice was rough and violent sounding. The monster I had seen months ago came back.

"You're special, child. Unfortunately, special demigods are the ones we kill first."

A cold shriveled hand wrapped thickly around my neck. I couldn't breathe. Gasps. Everything was blurring. My head hurt. Blurriness turned to dimming light. Spots. An image of Michael came and went. I wanted air. I needed air. More gasps. My head hurt even more now. Suddenly a yell of something and pain coursing throughout my body. My vision came back and Nico was standing in front of me in a protective crouch. A black glistening sword in his hands. The air seemed colder. There was whistling sound echoing in my head so I turned off the hearing aids. Sometimes silence is better.

I tried to grasp the concept of what was going on. '_Maybe I'm hallucinating like Sam,'_ I thought. _'If I start seeing Lucifer I'm dreaming. If I'm not God why do you detest me?' _I closed my eyes and inhaled. Lucifer wasn't there and everything was still the same except Nico was fighting the monster that once was my teacher. Did I do something wrong? First my friends were ignoring me and now this. Really. I will give up anything if I can at least have my sanity back. Please. I closed my eyes again and tried to grip my sanity. It refused to be held on to unfortunately for me and I could do nothing but face the facts that I was officially going nuts. I watched as Nico stabbed the monster with his black sword.

"I'm going leave Supernatural for a few weeks," I muttered as I turned my aids back on. There wasn't any more whistling.

Nico sheathed his sword and helped me up. Where the monster had been was a large collection of yellow, slimy-looking dust. He looked me in the eye, his hands gripping my shoulders to stop me from shaking.

"You okay?"

I stared at him with a bewildered, wide-eyed look. "Am I okay? NO I am not okay! I need to go to the nearest physchiatrist and have my brain examined because I am not okay! I'm going crazy!" Then a weird terrible thought washed over me. "Omigod! I'm in coma, aren't I? This has all been a dream because the illness has caused me to go into a coma. And, and, and now it's making me think weird things. So I'm not crazy, right? I'm in a coma." I looked at him with a pleading look on my face. I gripped his shoulders now, tears threatening to walk outside of the barrier I had trapped them with. "Please tell me I'm coma. Please."

"You aren't in a coma, Emily. Far from it." He pulled my hands away from his shoulders gently and wiped the tears away with his thumb. "But you're not crazy. Far from that too." He put my bag on me.

I stared at him. "Did you get me high somehow?"

"No."

"Did someone else get me high?"

"No."

"Is this a dream?"

"No."

"Am I dead?"

"No."

"Is this a prank?"

"No."

I was about to ask him something else when he grabbed my hand and pulled me forcefully down the hall way. I looked back. There were a lot of people running towards us. I frowned. What the hell was going on? Maybe I sold my soul without actually realizing it and I'm being tortured in Hell right now. Nico ran into the door. The glass shattered and as he pulled me through it I saw mounds of dirt rising up, molding into the space, becoming rock out of no where. I shoved my other hand into the left pocket of my whitewash jeans and felt the rock. Was Nico my mystery guy? Was he spying on me that night? Interally my head shook. He had girlfriend. He wouldn't want me. I'd be a last resort if he lost Jessica anyway.

I felt Nico lift me on to the back of his motorcycle and hurriedly start it up. He didn't bother with helmets. Once agin we soar down the roads. I couldn't make out anything from the speed we were going at.

"Hang on!"

"To what?" was my retort.

Next thing I knew we veered suddenly over a bridge. Cars stopped, people yelled, I screamed, Nico cheered. We landed with a thump on saltly H2O. We were zooming across the ocean, foam and sea water sparaying up behind this. Did I ever mention that I have this intense fear of drowning because of a crazy nutjob zooming me across the Atlantic Ocean on a motorcycle? Because I do. Well I did when Nico became the crazy nutjob.

"If this hallucination is because you got me high, Nico, you are totally regretting it!" I screamed.

He just laughed, his voice carried away by the wind. In front of waters rose and Nico swore under his breath. A sacly beast emerged from the waves anf foam, attacking us with a forked tongue. A sea serpent. Could this day get any better? Nico obviously had experience with this animal before because he swerved away and around it as it rose. It went back underneath the waves when it realized we were not there. I saw a faint outline of it skim beneath us. I screamed. Nico swore again and moved away from it. Like a puupy it followed, twisting and curving under the water. It tried to attack again but Nico moved out of the way before it could.

"Can you drive?" he yelled at me.

I stared at him. He asked again. "Emily, you need to focus. Can you drive?"

I nodded, not really focusing that well. Daniel and me had been washing his mom's motorcycle one weekend. He went nuts explaining to me every detail. Thankfully it all stuck.

"Okay. You drive and I'll kill this bastard."

He shifted to side and I grabed ahold of the handles. He shifted around me and ripped his sword its sheath. I tried my best to use leverage and weight as a way to keep us straight. I think it worked. You couldn't ask me becuase I was to busy focusing on the sad fact that Nico was battling against a mythical creature. After maybe a few minutes Nico finished the enemy off and returned to his rightful place at the head of the motorcycle.

"You are really good at taking this in. Most people would've jumped off by now." His fingers brushed lightly against the water. We slowed to a stop. A girl's head popped up. Her hair was a dark torqouise and her skin had a sick green tinge to it. When she looked at me I saw dark blue eyes bore deep into mine. I leaned in closer to see them better. They were really pretty. She held out a webbed hand. I almost took it but Nico hissed at the girl and swatted her hand away. She turned to glare at him.

"Just tell them that we're coming," he snarled.

The girl hissed and I saw sharp pearly white teeth inside her mouth. Nico turned to me.

"The deeper they live, the more dark they become," he told me. "Unfortunately mermaids, no matter how dark they are, can be relied on passing information in a certain amount of time. They're really, really fast."

A mermaid. Could this day be any stranger? First my teacher decides to kill me, then a sea serpent appears out of nowhere and tries to kill us and now a dark mermaid. What did I go wrong? Maybe it was befriending Nico in the first place. Maybe I am going crazy. Maybe this is a dream. Maybe I'm still in class but I'm just daydreaming. I buried my head in Nico's back as we sped up. Nico didn't do anything besides pull my hands, which were in a choke hold around his waist, away. I muttered a quick sorry and closed my eyes.

_'Please,'_ I thought. _'Please let this all be a dream. I'm begging you.'_

* * *

><p>When I saw land I nearly dove off the motorcycle and swam towards it. The sky was beginning to dim and the sun was slipping down the horizon. Nico had tried his best to explain what was going on as we ventured towards land. He could tell my grasp on the concept wasn't all there when I asked him if he was taking medication. I think he's delusional. He needs to go to a doctor or therapsit or be locked up in a mental institution for a while. Though he being the son of Hades would explain why his skin was so cold and why he rarely ever had a real genuine smile. But me, a daughter of some god. Hah. So in my head I've officially declared Nico insane and will call a mental hospital as soon as we get on land. Then I will secure myself in that mental hospital to make sure I don't inflict my craziness on someone else like Nico has clearly done with me.<p>

Nico had said that he normally would've shadow-travelled to camp but he thought I would end up killing him as we were going through the shadows. He really isn't all there. I can't believe no one has noticed this before. Maybe it's because they're crazy too. Maybe the plan had been to pull me in and take away my sanity. I think I kissed the sand of the beach when we got to the place Nico called Camp Half-Blood. I wasn't going to let him steal my sanity. I actually like being sane.

Nico hopped off of the bike. "Well. Here we are."

"That's nice." I scanned the area. Kids were running around. Some were coming over to greet us. I turned back to Nico. "Where is the nearest phone? I need to call a mental hospital."

Nico sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I get it. You are used to normality but-"

"Normality. Hah. Turning deaf took that away but this is insane. This is beyond normality. Far beyond!" I snapped.

He tried to explain something to me but off went the hearing aids. He blinked in realization and slapped his forehead. He reached out to grab my arm but I pulled back. The kids were coming closer now. They were saying things. Nico and the kids tried to get closer to me but I ran. Sprinting up the beach, I tried to find the exit. Kids were walking down from somewhere, a place where entering and exiting was allowed. I ran towards there, kids filing into the area. As I approached I noticed that no more kids were coming. _'Great,'_ I thought. _'Now they can't grab me.'_ A large pine tree sat there with a gold... sweater? Why would a gold sweater be on the branches of a pine tree? Why would a sweater by gold anyway?

I stopped for single moment, about twenty-five feet away, just to admire it. The way it shimmered in the breeze like flashes of gold pennies. Then out of the far corner of my eye I saw kids running towards me, yelling at me and yelling at the people closer to me. I guess they were yelling for me to stop and for the closer ones to grab me I didn't stop, choosing to move on forward rather than let my sanity be taken away. Track and Field had never been a chosen area of expetise for me but I could run. Sometimes I felt that when I run I could outrun the world and it's many problems, speed being one of my best friends.

I sped over to the pine tree, my feet barely even hitting the ground. I reached the border between this crazy place and real life. My fringers gripped the branch of the tree. So close. I took a single step forward, ready to step forth back into reality when my neck started to stick. I reached behind me and pulled out a little dart. Everything seemed to start fading, a numbing sensation coursing throughout my body. Is this what death feels like? I pondered over it. No. Death is nothing. No pain included. Unless of course you've been shot and you're just bleeding to death. Then I guess the intense feeling of pain is there.

I felt my body hit the ground. Everything seemed to go in slow motion. Nico appeared out of nowhere almost as though he walked out of the shadows. I tried to blink but my eyelids fell closed. The last thing I remember before I slipped out of consicouisness was Nico's cold freezing skin pick me up and the scent of death hanging from his t-shirt. Maybe he wasn't crazy. Maybe he was right. After all, I'm pretty sure he didn't work in the morgue.

* * *

><p>Me: *stares at crowd* Did anybody like this chapter?<br>Beta: *points to a couple in the back* Yes, you two?  
>*Couple stands*<br>Me: Omigodit'sSamandDeanfromSupernatural. *squeals and faints for ten seconds*  
>Beta: They. Are. Hot. Maybe I should start watching.<br>Sam: I liked it because it was long and enjoyable. It didn't push everything into place too fast and explained quite throughly about things and-  
>Dean: I hated it. There was no mention of ghosts or naked women in distress.<br>Sam: *whacks brother upside his head* Dean, this isn't one of our fics.  
>Me: *stares at Dean in confusion* Yeah, it isn't. This is Percy Jackson and the Olympians. *guesters to banner hanging on wall*<br>Beta: Can I marry you?  
>Dean: Sorry about that and no. I don't believe in long term relationships.<br>Me & Sam: Explain Lisa then.  
>Dean: *glowers at us* Don't you dare bring her into this.<br>Sam: Jerk.  
>Dean: Bitch.<br>*Silence*  
>Me: Did you know that Castiel's coming back in episode seventeen? Misha said that he wasn't wearing undergarments though. I have no clue wh-<br>Dean: Castiel's coming back? Yes! *starts randomly dancing*  
>Sam: *slaps forehead* This is why I don't bring him to these things. *walks out of room* We are not related!<br>Beta: Can I marry them?  
>Me: NO!<p>

One of the longest chapters I have written for this website. Ever. Go me and my desire to write. Whoo. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed your Christmas present. Merry Christmas! And for anyone who wants to ask no I didn't get the song from Breaking Dawn. I like Christina Perri and found this song, listened to it and thought it was cool.

I brought Sam and Dean in for a little amusement. And for lovers of Supernatural, Castiel is coming back! Whoo! Castiel is coming back! Whoo! Sing it with me. Castiel is coming back! Whoo! Castiel is coming back! Whoo! Castiel is coming back! Whoo! Castiel is coming back! Whoo! Castiel is coming back! Whoo! Castiel is coming back! Whoo!

But really he is coming back. It was confirmed! So yay for Misha Collins and his awesome Castiel-i-ness!

Have A Great Christmas Everyone! Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad!

-Happykid44


	4. Chapter 4

I awoke to a cold room. It was dark with a little bit of moonlight shining in. The silence swirled around in my and a light gust of wind covered my body through the broken window across from me. My ears felt cold. I put one hand to them. They were both as naked as the day I was born, nothing on top of them. I slipped out of the white cot, blankets falling and layering up against my feet and the floor. I realized that my shoes had been taken off when my feet touched the cold tiles. I rubbed my finger against the walls, trying to find a light switch. When I did find one I winced at the sudden attack of light to my eyes and scanned the room, squinting as I tried to adjust to the brightness. Tears of nothing leaked out and finally my eyes adjusted to the burning sting of the light.

As I began my search for my hearing aids, I saw myself in a mirror. The mirror reflected a entirely different me. The way I looked reminded me of the one year when I allowed Alice to dress me up. It was her birthday. The experience was not something I enjoyed it at all but I had agreed to be her personal Barbie Doll. Anyway, instead of the clothes I had on earlier I had on a white dress. It flowed to ground and reminded of something that an angel would wear. The sleeves went about an inch over my shoulders which felt a bit awkward. Instead of having green eyes mine were now icy blue, somehow giving off a sleepy look. My black hair fell downwards in small waves, curling up inwards to my neck. I blinked ins surprise at my new appearace. I remembered that in some baby photographs I saw myself with blue eyes. Mom just always said they turned green. She didn't say how though.

I rubbed my naked arms and turned from the mirror to begin my hunt. Searching everywhere for my hearing aids, I was sort of depressed when I couldn't find them. After a few moments of arguemental debates with myself, I decided to go look outside for them. Maybe they fell off when I got shot by the dart and someone found them. Stuffing multiple pillows I found in cupboards underneath the blankets, I stepped back to admire my work. The blankets were too straight so I mussed them around a bit. Now it looks like someone was actually sleeping or... being dead considering the pillows weren't moving up and down. Maybe if someone came in they wouldn't notice. I'm allowed to hope, right?

Sighing with dread I flipped the lights switch and slipped out into the hallway. I darted through rooms and down other passage ways, mumbling to myself in sign language. I was in the middle of a heated debate on whether I should go back or stay on my path when shadows emerged from the corner. I freaked out in a instant, rooting myself to the spot I waas currently standing on. No matter how hard I tried the panic had more effect on my body than my mind did. As the shadows got bigger and began to duplicate, I dove into a small room, wedging myself into a corner. I slid to the floor and pulled my legs into my chest, holding my breath. After what seemed like hours my lungs screamed in protest, burning sensations shooting up my chest. As quietly as I hoped and thought I could I let out the air, slowly inhaling more oxygen.

The shadows creeped down the hallway. I raised my body up only the slightest. My eyes watched as one clump of blonde hair and one clump of black hair disappeared around a corner. I pulled myself up quickly and darted out the door. Even though I couldn't hear the door slam, the vibrations beneath my feet told me everything I needed to know. Crap. I spared one quick glance behind me. The shadows were coming back now and faster than they had originally been going. Double crap. In fear of being stuck with another dart impaled in my neck, I didn't run as fast as I wanted to. My feet slammed against the cold, hard tile, needles of pain runing up my ankle. I grabbed the corner wall and pulled myself down the hallway to avoid running into a wall. I took another glance behind me. Only one figure was chasing me. A frown devoloped on my face. Where was the other one? I got my answer as I turned my head back to my front and ran face first into something hard. I took a step back and rubbed my nose. Ow.

The figure reached out and gripped my arm. The hand was familarly cold. A light switch went on, flooding the area with bright burning light. I pressed my face back into the figure's chest. I could feel the rumble of laughter on the figure's chest. Whoever it was pulled me back and through blurry, watering eyes I saw Nico smiling down at me. He scooped me up into his arms, locking me into him to probably avoid me running away again. I twisted my head back around. Alice was rolling her eyes at me. She held out her hands, my hearing aids located in the perfect center of each one. _'How does she do that,'_ I thought as I struggled to twist my arms out of Nico's grasp. Unfortunately this only made him hold me tighter. _'Are we getting married?'_ I thought with heavy sarcasm in my tone. Alice tried to protest something to Nico and he said no. No is a very simple mouth movement so anyone who doesn't master in lip reading can even tell what it is. So Alice reached out and managed to put on my hearing aids for me, talking as she turned them up.

"Stop? Stop? Stop now? Sto-" she asked.

"Alright. You can stop," I muttered.

She pulled her hands back. I sighed and hung my head, my hair falling. Everything looked upside down, reminding me of the time I watched the cartoon version of Alice in Wonderland. Flipped over and falling down a tunnel to follow a white rabbit and the rabbit just ended up being rude. I pulled my head back up and struggled to move my legs as they were falling asleep. When your feet or legs fall asleep it's just really uncomfortable because it's like a million ants are literally inside your skin, crawling around and biting you. Ugh. Nico ignored my movements and continued to carry me off.

"When are we reaching the honeymoon suite?" I huffed.

Alice snickered as Nico's pale cheeks flooded with blood. I managed to sneak out a single arm when loosened his grip only slightly. I patted him on the head. "Nico, forcing me into marriage will not help you gain my love. In fact, you'd just lose all the trust you built up." I wagged my finger at him teasingly so he grumbled something in Italian. While she was giggling at my comment, Alice, who had learnt Italian a few months after meeting Nico, smacked him upside the head . Curious as to why I thought about how I would ask without getting Nico to use his Glare of Death and Epic Destruction. The glare is so cool it has a title. After a few minutes of me being stuck in Nico's arms and next to a strangely silent Alice I decided on how.

I tapped Alice's arm with my free arm and signed, 'What did he say?'

'He said and I quote, "You have got to be the weirdest kid I've met. One moment you're freaking out because you think you're going crazy. The next moment you're giggling and joking around. Yeesh. Girls are strange!" Nico can be so silly sometimes.'

I rolled my eyes. Nico looked confused and kept repeating the same thing over and over agin as we left. "What did you say? What did you say?" and we just ignored him, continuing sign language. The. Entire. Way. Out. Nico kept looking upset because we wouldn't tell him what we were saying. Gotta love being deaf. It makes everything much more fun.

I closed my eyes and began to daydream about random things that fluttered through my mind. If you're curious you can read these three paragraphs and if you're not then skip them. Anyway for the curious people, this is how my daydream went. First I was sitting on a dock watching waves splash around even though swimming is not something I particurly like. Then out of nowhere Crowley (a demon from Supernatural) appears and drags me off to the waiting line for Hell. Ten minutes later Harry (Harry Potter to be exact) flies down with his awesome broomstick and drags me out then he gets smited by Raphael (an archangel from Supernatural) who looks extremely pissed off.

Raphael starts to chase me and after three minutes of running through The Forbidden Forest and jumping over different creatures, Gazzy (from the Maximum Ride series) appears. He blows Rapheal up with a bomb made from the metal of an Archangel Killing Sword. Lucifer (a fallen archangel, otherwise known as The Devil/Satan, from Supernatural) in Nick's body (a vessel from Supernatural) flutters down with really pretty white wings and tries to convince Gazzy to join him and his demon army in the apocalpyse. This is the part where it gets really weird.

Gazzy says no and runs away as hunters who believe he is a monster come out and chase him. Sam Winchester (a vessel/hunter/ex-demon blood junkie/member of Team Free Will from Supernatural) rolles out Bobby Singer (a hunter from Supernatural) who is in his Season Five wheelchair. Both of them try to kill Lucifer by shooting him. As they try to kill him, Lucifer tries to once again convince Sam into accepting him to be his vessel. Dean Winchester (a vessel/hunter/older brother of Sam/member of Team Free Will from Supernatural) flies down from the back of Castiel (an angel/member of Team Free Will from Supernatural). Castiel and Lucifer end up fighting and Lucifer dies as the ressurrected Gabriel (an archangel/Trickester from Supernatural) stabs him from behind with an Archangel Killing Sword. Dean confesses his love for Castiel and then drags him into the Impala to teach him... things. Gabriel takes Sam off to teach Sam the wonders of chocolate. Bobby and I decide to help his zombie wife make pies before having to shoot her in the head. In case you didn't notice I am kind of obessed with Supernatural. And I have written several angry letters to the producers to bring back Gabriel because he's awesome but they haven't. Maybe in Season Eight if the actual apocalyspe hasn't started by then.

Anyway, as we wandered out the doorway I was awoken from my daydream to a cold chill spiking my arms. A wave of shudders slid down my spine as Nico placed me carefully on to the cold grass. Yeesh. The grass can't tell when winter is over. It's summer! Stop being cold or I'll won't scold Sam for starting the apocaplyse which will proabably occur in your death worldwide.

Even though I wasn't going to run away, Nico gripped my arm as though he wanted to suffocate it. Alice rolled her eyes at the motion but did nothing to convince him to let me go. I huffed and stuck my tongue out him. He stuck his tongue out at me and we stood there for four minutes giving each a stare down, his black eyes against my new blue ones. I was the first to give up, turning my head in the opposite direction, a pout forming on my face. Despite my not loooking at him I knew Nico had a smug expression on his face. One that so clearly spoke of victory. A point for Nico.

"Idiots," Alice muttered. She rolled her eyes again but with playfulness embedded within. "Anyway, do want to have you tour of camp now or tomorrow?"

'Now,' I signed, feeling pleased as Nico muttered, "I'm learning sign language if it kills me." One point for me.

Alice and I laughed at his solemn expression, his face trying its best to create a puppy dog look. He utterly failed.

"Nico, this is how you do a puppy dog look." Alice nudged me with her arm and we both pouted slighty, our eyes narrowing and looking up from underneath our lids and lashes. Our lips quivered only vaguely. Another point for me, I so happily declared as Nico began to seethe and grumble. I followed him and Alice around as they showed me the cabins. Alice first dragged me in front of a large pink cabin. As I stared at it I wondered if we somehow stepped into the world of Barbie without my realizing it.

The cabin had bright pink 10 on the door which scarily was also pink. The cabin exterior was hot pink and roof had been painted a smooth light pink but my eyes saw well past the colours. The paint had been placed rather roughly onto the walls, the pink going into seperate directions. No one had bothered to do more than two coats or smooth the paint out like they should have. If you paid close enough attention you could see bits of gray block peeking out from under the pink. The purple-pinkish lace curtains were hung invaded the space of each window. Alice sighed.

"Pretty, isn't it? Though it could use a little less pink," Alice said, her face smiling cheerfully as she made to open up the door with a key that was unsurprisingly pink. "Piper, our Head Counselor, is contemplating on changing it a nice light blue to make it seem more macho. Aphrodite does have boys you know and we can't make it seem like all of them are gay. I mean, only two are gay. The rest are all straight." Alice paused for only a moment. "I think they are anyway. Charlie is trying his best to convince the male campers that being gay is one of the... crap, I keep forgetting." She shoved open the door, letting out waves of perfume. I felt a bit dizzy and had to hold onto Nico to regain my blance. "What was again Nico? I didn't really pay much attention when he was talking. More giggling over the fact that our dear Benjamin was trying to leave the Mess Hall. Poor Ben. Charles is so infactuated with him."

As he pulled me through the doorway, Nico said, "I think he said that being gay is one of the best most life altering things that could happen to a person because your partner being of the same gender knows exactly what you need and want. I think that's when Benji decided to murder him with a fork. That part was hilarious. Even Chiron wouldn't convince Benjamin to stop." Nico shook his head as he recalled that memory.

I tried to imagine that and from what I knew with Benjamin's murderous behavior when it came to his boyfriend I could envision it quite clearly. Somehow Charles had a talent for pissing off his boyfriend almost all the time. When I asked Benjamin why he stayed with Charles he simply had replied, "He's cute. And the sex is great. Plus, he's really sweet when he wants to be and he only does it because he loves it when I get mad." He had frowned at that. "Don't bother asking me why. Charlie is a mystery."

I snapped back into reality as the memory sunk back into its file once the bright lights overhead flickered on. The walls were bright pink and the curtains must have been double coloured for they were now pastel blues and greens which matched the sheets and blankets of each bed. The scent of perfume was much heavier inside than it was outside. I almost fell from the intake of it all. Nico steadied me, chuckling about how after a while you got used to it. A point for Nico. Crap. But man, the perfumes were powerful. I gagged a bit. Alice huffed.

"You don't like it?" Her lips were now quivering and her eyes began to tear up.

Unable to get a word out of my mouth without inhaling the perfume, I signed, 'No. It's just that the smell is really powerful. Can we leave now?"

"Okay."

As soon as Alice closed and locked the door to her cabin, I dropped to my knees and inhaled. Good, fresh, non-perfume polluted air. I stood to feet and slung my arms around Alice's and Nico's shoulders, regaining my balance. Each rolled their eyes at my patheticness, showing me each cabin that littered the grass. I noticed as we moved along that every single time alice tried to take to a large black cabin, Nico suddenly became interested in another cabin and forced us along to that one. Eventually, I had been intoduced to each cabin and Nico tried to dragged us along to what they called the Mess Hall while Alice and I fought against him, towards the large black cabin. We won. Nico lost. Another point for me. As we ventured to the black cabin, Alice pestered Nico in Italian. Even though Alice was clearly being annoying, Nico smirked at my pissed off expression which was there because I couldn't understand a word they were saying. Point for Nico.

Switching back to plain English, Alice said to me, "This is Nico's cabin. Apparently he thinks you're going to laugh at him for it."

I stared at Nico with confusion plastered on my face. Laugh? At his cabin? Which was really freaking me out. It was made of black rock and had torches that sprouted green flames. A dusty skull was placed overhead the door which was cold to the skin, created out of black marble. Inoticed it had a small little cat door cut out at the bottom. The entire exterior of the cabin was smooth and you could feel each crevice of the wall if you ran your hand over it. Besides the wall were fake skeleton's that looked so real, their guns facing upwards, slanted on their shoulder blades. I reached out to touch one when its head suddenly turned to me. I jumped back in fright. Holy fudge. I stumbled backwards, crashing into Alice who gripped my sides and pushed me back up.

Nico flashed a quick grin at the skeleton who had its gun facing me. He raised one hand. "Back into position, Lieuntenant."

The skeleton moved back to the wall, its gun now facing upwards. Nico clasped his hands and smiled at us. "Shall we get a move on then. I'm sure they've finished Capture The Flag by now."

Alice shook her head. "Emily, hasn't seen the inside yet and because you're here she can."

I thought about as they both looked at me, Nico's facial expression filled with pleading and Alice's facial expression filled with insistence. I finally decided to go with Alice. "Sure," I said. "I mean, the outside is creepy so the inside shouldn't be all that embarassing. The only thing that would make me laugh at you would be if you had a bookcase full of teddy bears." I laughed at that. Nico seemed like the type of person who never even thought about sleeping with a stuffed animal, the dark being more afraid of him than he afraid of it. "Plus, I really want to see the kitten. You didn't kill her, did you?"

I frowned when I didn't get a reply. Then I turned my head and noticed Nico running away. What the...? Alice chased him for a bit and then came sprinting back, waving something above her. Nico was yelling out protests and demanding that she give him his key back. She unlocked the door and quickly slammed it shut after shoving me forcefully in. I heard a loud range of gunshots echo against the door. Nico screamed something... rude at Alice and then once again told the Lt. Skeleton to go back into position. At the same time Alice switched on the lights and Nico shoved the door open, I saw it.

"Oh. You do have a bookcase full of teddy bears," I giggled. I marched up to it and grabbed a white one with small golden wings and a golden halo. I showed it Nico and said with the most sincerity, "Can I have it?"

Nico looked horrified at the idea of me having one of his teddy bears. "NO!"

"Please? Pretty please with a cherry on top?" I whimpered, bringing the teddy closer to me.

"I'm alergic to cherries." Nico snatched his teddy bear out of my hands and placed it tenderly on the third shelf.

Alice smacked her forehead. "Emily, you're supposed to be laughing at him. I mean, think about it. He's fifteen. Teddy bears should be something he wants demolished. Not something he likes!"

"But they're soooo cute!" I squealed. Then I saw another one on a bed. It looked like it had been mauled down several times and sewed back up with different types of cloth. One eye was a large purple bead and the other eye was a green emerald of about the same size. It had a black t-shirt with a gray skull on and black demin jeans. I looked at Nico and pointed to it. "Can I have that one?"

"No one but me will ever be allowed to have Mr. Stupid!" Nico seethed. I was afraid he would bite me.

I took a step back, crossing my arms as I looked at the other teddy bears. "Why do you have them anyway? Like Alice said, you shouldn't really want them."

Nico said, "They're from my past. I don't know. It just comforts me to know I was somewhat normal. And it's like what you said -" He grabbed one of the shelf and hugged to his chest. "They're sooooo cute!"

I smiled and cocked my head. Nico could be such a strange boy sometimes but if that's what made him him then I'd willingly take it. After all now we can start a Teddy Bears United Club. The beginning to something wonderful. Alice just muttered that I would naturally go with the person who controlls the dead instead of my best friend. Nico and I ignored her, babbling on and on to each other about teddy bears and other stuffed toy animals we liked as ventured to the mystical Mess Hall.

After maybe twenty minutes we had covered most of the camp, all the while I nibbled on a slice of pizza and a doughnut. They took me to the beginning of the forest where a centuar was waiting. I stared at him for a long time. He just laughed when I managed to get the words "Nice tail" out of my mouth. To be honest it was a nice tail.

"Em, this is our Activities Director. Chiron," Alice introduced as he gave a bow before us.

"Centuar. Myths. Naturally they'd actually have the real guy. Naturally," I muttered. I reached out to poke his horse part. "Real. Very, very, very real."

The centaur, Chiron, was pretty cool. He explained everything that Nico didn't manage to get in during our own conversation. He explained to me about the The Second Titan War and how a prophecy had come up about a child of the Big Three (Zeus, Posiedon and Hades) and how Zeus broke it twice by having a daughter and a son and Posiedon broke it once by having a son.

"Wait. What about Nico? Wouldn't that mean his dad broke it?" I asked.

"No, Emily. I was born during World War Two," Nico explained. "My dad erased our memories and stuffed me and my sister, Bianca, in a hotel where time literally stands still. We didn't age or anything. When he pulled us out we were the same age as when he put us in but we didn't remember anything. That's why I kept the teddy bears. They bring back some memories. Faint though."

"Oh," I murmured. I hugged his side and gestured for Chiron to continue.

So he did. Chiron told me about Percy who defeated Kronos himself. He told me how Percy went missing after a while and how Jaspn Grace, the son of Zeus, had appeared then explained the second prophecy. He said it had been completed two years ago. He told me about Roman demigods and how the Greek and Roman demigods were finally united and didn't fight anymore. I blinked and kept quiet during all of this. It was sort of overwhelming. He was about to ask me something but a red flag sprouted beneath our feet with a location written on it. Chiron grabbed it, a medical kit and galloped away.

Nico laughed. "So how up to date do you feel?"

I smacked him and sat down. Alice pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, a pencil and an eraser out her pocket. "Draw it out then," she said. She threw the art supplies to me and Nico held a rock out. It suddenly pushed itself down, becoming bigger and bigger. He handed the now smooth square shaped rock to me and plopped down on the left side of me as Alice picked the right side

I laid on my stomach, the paper smoothed out and placed on top of the rock. I put the pencil to the paper and drew. In one top corner I drew Percy standing on top of a guy, holding his sword in a sort triumphant way. I drew in the next corner Percy and the boy, Jason, as Alice explained what he looked like. I put Hera in the middle of them with her holding a glass bottle as their memories poured out of their heads. In the lower left corner I drew three kids: Jason Grace, Piper McLean and Leo Valdez. Jason had his arm slung over Piper's shoulders while Leo had some cheesy looking smile on his face, his arm in flames. I could tell Nico and Alice were confused. They didn't explain that bit to me. In the last final corner, I drew Percy with his arms wrapped around the shoulders of a curly haired girl and chubby looking boy. Behind the boy was the shadow of a bear. They seemed to be waiting for something. This all took forty minutes and I finshed the sketch of the bear just as some people burst from the forest, cheering as they did so. Alice ignored them while Nico darted to Jessica who was part of the cheering crowd.

"Emily?" Alice began. I twisted my head to face her. She guestered to the chubby boy, the curly haired girl and Leo's flaming arm. "We didn't tell you about that part." I shrugged, not really wanting to explain about how I blanked out the moment I placed the lead of the pencil to the paper. Somehow I really didn't think that meant I was normal or sane at least.

Alice got up to aske me another question but I darted off towardds Charles and Benjamin, who were walking somewhere. I think it was the campfire some kid yelled about. I squished myself between them after noticing Ben's irritated look.

To Charles I said, "I have a feeling I'm saving your life." To Benjamin I asked, "What's wrong with you?"

Benjamin glared at his boyfriend and crossed him arms turning away from him. I looked at Charles. "What did you do?" I asked.

"Nothing!" he insisted. "He was on the opposite team and he told me that just because we were dating that didn't mean I wasn't allowed to attack him. 'We're supposed to be enemies,' he said. 'You're supposed to attack me,' he said. So I did."

Charles pulled me in front of him like a human sheild as Benjamin suddenly whirled around, anger and rage and fury in his eyes. "Attack me with a sword, you dimbulb! Not shoving me into a bush and trying to rape me! Gods! You're so stupid!"

"You should have been specific then!" Charles roared.

"Really!" Benjamin exclaimed. "So you knowing that we were playing Capture the Flag had no specific outlook! NO! Of course not! It was naturally all my fault!" Benjamin shoved Charles down and began to walk away, all the while he yelled, "Maybe if you got some more BRAINS you'd be SMARTER!"

Then he disappeared into the flowing crowd of campers. Charles griped and grumbled as I help him up. "You have a wonderful talent to piss off the one you love," I commented. "It's really quite amazing."

Charles glowered at me and walked with me as he went on and on about all the things he hated about Benjamin. '_Liar,'_ I thought to myself. '_Those are the things you love about him the most.' _Kids were circled around this large campfire, the fire glowing bright as though in tune with the voices of each child. Instinctively Charles sat down beside Ben who pulled me into the middle of them. Chiron stood next to the campfire and everything went quiet. The fire automatcially went out until some kids started to beat against the ground with their feet to keep it going. So the fire was in tune with their voices. Magical. Chiron conducted the sing-along. All the children sang happily and the campfire grew and grew, turning a rich golden colour. I scanned the area and noticed Jessica holding one of the teddy bears Nico had on his bookcase.

It was a hot pink one with a bright fuchsia bag over its shoulder. Bright rose coloured sunglasses were placed on the delicate head of the teddy bear. It had pinkish-purple beaded eyes and wore a coral pink sweater over its carnation pink dress. The dress had small flower pattern on it that were all the colour, you guessed it, pink. Nico has no manliness. I mean, before he did. Now it's just gone.

I grabbed a small stick off of the ground and began to draw a dragon. Charles watched me after recieving several smacks from Benjamin for watching him as Benjamin sang. We argued over every little detail about the dragon. The tail was fine, the wings were fine, the head was a little lopsided, I'll give him that but it was perfectly fine. I understood how Benjamin managed to get mad at him all the time. Yeesh! It's like he's a patch of evilness and whenever someone gets close enought to him they need to get angry and yell or do something that would be considered violent.

"No. It's fine." I wrestled my stick out Charles annoying grip and redid the tail from where he ruined it.

Charles pushed me down and stole my stick. "It. Should. Be. Longer!"

He scratched out my beauty of a tail and replaced it with one of his pathetic designs. So I did something I very rarely ever do. I punched the idiotic boy in the face. He collapsed to the ground and I got my stick back. I smoothed away his design and redid my desin over again, glowering at the idiot called Charles. Then I noticed everyone's eyes on me. I glanced at Alice who was snickering silently.

'Chiron announced you as the new camper. Stand and try not to look stupid,' she signed, one hand clamped over her mouth to keep her from laughing.

I blushed and stood up, my body wavering in the light breeze. I waved and then plopped back down. _'Stupid Charles,'_ I grumbled in thought. _'Making me look stupid.' _Charles glared at me and caught a flying water bottle in midair, pouring some water on to his eye. It was starting to bruise around the eye lid. I snorted and smirked. Chiron cleared his throat and continued to speak, intoducing other new campers. Charles tried to taunt me as a way of getting me into trouble I assumed. So I leaned back and allowed Benjamin to snarl and glower at him. Charles went quiet instantly. The power of a gay, violent, pissed off boyfriend is great. And when you can use that power to your advantage it's even greater.

Holographic signs appeared over the head of each child Chiron introduced to the camp with a few new campers getting a bit more than others. I glanced above my head. Nothing. Did my father even care enough to claim me? Maybe whoever he was he was just making sure I was his kid. Probably going througgh a long list of the woman he's had intercourse with to find my mom. I'm really not making myself feel any better. When Chiron finished he sent a fleeting glance to me and noticed the same thing everyone else did. Nothing. Clearing his throat, Chiron lead everyone into another sing-along. I pulled my knees to my chest and wondered why I was never really lucky.

Even though everyone was preoccupied with singiing I still felt the stares, the questions. I felt stupid and awkward. Though the air was filled with noise, as loud as it was, I couldn't really hear anything. Silence was developing and it was loud, pounding on the inside of my head; yelling at me and punching me with it's imaginary fists. Every illusionary blow crushed my spirit and pushed me down. Was this some great curse I got at birth and never knew about? Was I destined to be the child forgotten about? Five songs passed through the air. Still nothing. As the last song stilled into the everlasting silence, Chrion sighed and looked to the sky as though asking, "Why did you leave her out?" He looked at me silently with a wondering gaze and sent us off to bed. That's when nothing became something. A closed eye shimmered above my head with a black crown hovering over it. People froze in place as Chiron announced the good news.

"Emily Porter, daughter of Morpheus." Chiron smiled at me and guestered to a girl with purple spiky hair. "Emily, this is Alexis. She is the counselor of your cabin. She'll help you get settled in."

Alexis smiled and grabbed my hand, towing me off to the Morpheus Cabin. As we approached she yelled out, "Shane!" and waved to a older looking boy. She turned to me. "That is Shane. He's our annoyingly depressed brother."

The boy raised his hand in greeting and entered the cabin. Carrying a small suitcase and backpack, Alice came darting across the grass. She slowed down and shoved the backpack and suitcase in my hands.

"I called your mom earlier. No need to thank me," she said, her eyes sparkling with the curious gaze. "Just tell me how you knew about the things in the picture you drew."

Alexis raised her eyebrow, an elegant arch for someone with strange coloured hair. I shugged. "I don't know. Must've dreamt about it sometime."

Alice nodded, looking not to entirely pleased with my lack of an answer. She said good-night and sauntered off, leaving me to be towed by Alexis to our cabin. I brushed back my wind-tousled hair with my fingertips, tucking each strand behind my ear. Alexis opened the door, her back holding it open as I lugged my stuff inside. She pulled Shane over and introduced him to me even though I was sure he remembered me from the campfire moments ago. He shook my hand, running a thin finger over the dips in my palm. He dropped his hand and smiled at me, bits of yellow staining his teeth. I couldn't see the colour of his eyes due to the sunglasses he had on but I assumed they were blue like mine. Remembering the sudden blueness of my eyes I twisted to Alexis who was pulling on a light blue t-shirt.

"Alexis?" I began.

She turned, revealing a teddy bear picture on her t-shirt. "Yeah?"

"D-do gods ever change their child's appearance? Before they come to camp, I mean," I questioned.

She frowned and answered, "I don't think they do, Emily. They would if they didn't want monsters to notice their kid but it's more like, if monsters see us we go to camp which is important. So to answer your question. No I don't think they do." She paused thoughtfully. "Unless you were a child of Aphrodite but she makes them even more beautiful when they get claimed."

"Oh. Just curious." I turned away and placed my bags on to the bed I picked.

So why was mine different. Alexis had blue eyes and I, now, had blue eyes. The only thing that would confirm my thoughts would be if Shane had blue eyes.

"Shane. Quick question," I called out. "What colour are your eyes?"

"Uh. Blue?" I could hear the confused tone in his voice. "Why?"

"No reason!" I said quickly. "No reason."

I could sense them exchanging glances but no questions were asked about my strange behavior. I rummaged through my bag, pulling out a night shirt and some pajama pants. The lights turned off, the moon emitting a ghostly glow through the window. I slipped out of my clothes and pulled on the pajamas. I pushed my stuff underneath the bed and slipped into the blankets which Shane and thrown me. I closed my eyes, sleep developing a comforting feel. I reached for my hearing aids ready to take them off. Then out of no where a loud snore pipes out of the darkness.

"SHANE!" Alexis yelled.

"Mmm?" Shane's bulky body twisted in the dark.

"Don't snore!" Alexis then huffed and said to me, "You are so lucky that you wear hearing aids."

Shane grumbled, "I'm not that bad."

"Have you heard yourself?" Alexis retorted. "You sound like a building being demolished."

I giggled as those words aroused an anger in Shane. They began to argue.

"Night!" I called out as loud as I could.

I pulled off my hearing aids and disappeared into dreamland. The land of my father. Morpheus, the god of dreams.

* * *

><p>Warmth enveloped over my arm and pushed me roughly. I cracked an eye. A bare chested boy stood before me, his sunglasses perched on the bridge of his nose which baffled me. Who wears sunglasses at - I checked the time quickly - 6:39 in the morning? The sun is barely even shining. Wait. Who gets up at 6:39 in the first place? Wait a minute. WHO THE HELL IS THIS BOY? I pretended to turn away and when I felt him lean towards me I jumped up and tackled him to the floor. His sunglasses fell off, scattering on the floor. That's when I recongized the mix of gray and blonde hair. I fell backwards on to my butt. I reached for my hearing aids.<p>

"Sorry Shane." I blushed.

"That's fine. It's okay. Alexis's did the same thing to me when she got here about a year ago," he chuckled.

He turned around quickly as my eyes drifted to his. I remembered something Alice had explained to me the night before.

"Wait. When did you get here?" I asked.

"Um, a few days after the war." He turned to me, the sunglasses back on his face. "You know about the war right?"

I nodded. "Then how come Alexis is the counselor? I thought the person who's been at camp the longest was counselor."

"Well, you see, she, I, well-" he stammered before Alexis barged in.

"Morning Emily. Shane-i-kins," she said, grabbing his cheeks. "You two better get changed so we can get the cabin ready for inspection."

I looked around. The only things that needed to be fix were the beds. Besided that everything looked fine. I looked back at Alexis who was running out the doorway. Shane shook his head and made for his things, muttering about how she has perfection issues. Forgetting about our previous conversation, I picked my blanket off of the floor from where it had fallen an dplaced it delicately on my bed, smoothing out the creases/wrinkles. I thought it looked fine. So as I waited for Shane to get out of the bathroom, I decided to make his and Alexis's bed. When I was done with that I laid out of the floor, stomach first and drew some pictures of my kittens, Mom and my old doctor, Dr. Howard.

I always liked him. He made getting flu shots feel like nothing. He knew sign language and would use one hand to tell me jokes as he injected each needle into my arm. I would be laughing so hard that I couldn't feel it that much when he pushed. He had a nice voice too. I remembered it all the time since turning deaf. A smooth, flowing voice that made you feel calm as soon as you heard it. Then he moved to Canada after his mother had a stroke and needed help. I smiled at the familiar grin and spiked hair. I folded the picture of him up neatly and put it in my bag. He always sent Christmas cards and birthday cards to my mom and I. I think at one point my mom had a crush on him but grew out of it after a few months.

The bathroom door opened up revealing Shane in his wet haired glory. I grabbed my clothes and slipped past him. As I striped down and was about to turn on the water, I heard a screech of pain, a screech that reminded me so much of Michael. Grabbing a towel, I opened the door and peered out. Michael, my only male kitten, sat there in all _his _cat glory hissing and snarling at Shane, his back arched in an 'n' shape. That's when Benjamin entered, his head still looking behind him.

"Hey, Alice told me to tell you that your mom thinks that your cats-" He broke off as he noticed Michael. He looked at me with eyes narrowed in a confused expression. "That your cats are missing," he continued. He guestered behind him. "I'll tell Alice that they snuck over here."

"You do that," I murmured as I strolled over to Michael. Benjamin scrambled off, the door slamming shut behind him. I grabbed him by the fur on his neck like a mother cat would do to her kittens. "You mister have got a lot of explaining to do. Now where's your sis, huh? You never leave anywhere without her."

As though to answer my question, Angel meowed sleepily from my suitcase. I shoved Michael into Shane's arms and stormed over. Angel gave me a cat grin and fell back to sleep.

"Only you two," I muttered, running my fingers through her fur. I shook her awake and plopped her down at Shane's feet. I then pulled Michael out of Shane's arms and put him next to her. "If you two want food you have to get from Nico because I don't have any."

I gave them a description of Nico's cabin and sent them on their way. Shane laughed at what he could only assume was my sillyness.

"They're cats, Emily. They aren't that smart," he proclaimed.

I stuck out my tongue and stormed off. He obviously didn't know how smart cats truely were. Granted some were mentally insane knuckleheads but you have to remember that we as human beings have our fair share of mentally, insane knuckleheads.

I turned on the water on and stepped in, relishing in the rush of heat flowing down my shoulders. I grabbed the new bar of soap my mother had packed me and pulled it out of the packaging. The musty scent of ash and fire that lingered on me was flushed out and replaced by the scent of lavendar soap. Have you noticed that scented soaps don't really work? Just FYI (For Your Information).

Anyway, I rubbed off all the water with a fluffy orange towel and pulled on the clothing I had laid out on the counter. I stepped out with my hands curling around my hearing aids. Alexis was sitting on the floor, strumming on a guitar, her head tilted back. Her mouth was open wide and Shane had both hands clasped. Having a feeling that putting on my hearing aids would be a bad idea, I put them on anyway and got hit with a screech that you couldn't even get out of a cat.

"If I snore like a building being demolished, you sing worse than a cat shrieking, what is besides being deaf is wrong with Emily?" Shane yelled above the noise of Alexis's screaming.

She shut up and glared at him. "I do not sing bad. I'm just a little out of tune."

"Apollo couldn't even get you in tune and he's the god of music." Due to this insult Shane got smacked repeatedly by little fists. In between smacks, he got out, "Just. _Ow._ Play the. _Ow. Pain. Lots of pain._ Guitar."

Alexis huffed. "Why?"

"Because you're actually good at that."

She smacked him once for good measure and then sat down. Her guitar strap sild over her head while Shane pressed his back against a wall and slid to the floor, watching her. I copied his action. Her guitar playing couldn't be as bad as her singing. She looked at Shane who drummed his fingers to the floor. Licking her lips, she played the introduction to 'Have You Ever Seen The Rain' by Creedence Clearwater Revival. An old song. I heard a voice, nice and smooth, echo around the room. Shane was smiling as his voice was let out in a rythmatic pattern.

_Someone told me long ago_  
><em>There's a calm before the storm<em>  
><em>I know it's been coming for some time<em>

_When it's over so they say_  
><em>It'll rain on a sunny day<em>  
><em>I know shinning down like water<em>

_I want to know_  
><em>Have you ever seen the rain<em>  
><em>I want to know<em>  
><em>Have you ever seen the rain<em>  
><em>Coming down on a sunny day<em>

_Yesterday and days before_  
><em>Sun is cold and rain is hard<em>  
><em>I know, been that way for all my time<em>

_'Til forever, on it goes _  
><em>Through the circle of fast and slow<em>  
><em>I know it can't stop, I wonder<em>

_I want to know_  
><em>Have you ever seen the rain<em>  
><em>I want to know<em>  
><em>Have you ever seen the rain<em>  
><em>Coming down on a sunny day<em>

_I want to know_  
><em>Have you ever seen the rain<em>  
><em>I want to know<em>  
><em>Have you ever seen the rain<em>  
><em>Coming down on a sunny day<em>

"Gotta love the oldies," Alexis murmured.

Shane stretched and grinned as he thought of the most obvious insult. "As long as you don't sing them."

A pillow smacked him in the head. She got up and went to a stereo, playing some of the grand oldies. She pulled me to my feet as a Charlie Brown played. Laughing, I danced to the jazzy beat. When it came to the point all three us yelled out, "Why is everybody always picking on me?" I grew up in an oldies enviroment. Those who didn't are clearly missing something very important in their life. The door slammed open and Nico rolled in, an upset look on his face. "Why is everybody always picking on me?" he asked.

I giggled. Of course he'd know this song. If he knew nothing about his past, he'd try pretty darn well to find things to spring up memories. For the last bits of the song, Shane grabbed Nico and danced around with him. 'Silly boys,' I thought. 'Silly, silly boys.'

"Anyway," he said as he wrapped his arm around Shane's neck. "Emily, did you know that little Michael and Angel have been terrorizing my kitten."

Alexis lit up, her face covered in signs of glee. "You have kittens?"

As I nodded I held out my hands and Nico grabbed my wrists. When I walked into Nico's dark, teddy bear filled cabin I was rewarded this sight: Angel sleeping on top of Mr. Stupid, Michael trying to devour Shadow (Nico's kitten) and Shadow drinking some water out of a little bowl, not having a care in the world that Michael was gnawing on her head.

I sighed and seperated Michael from Shadow, who stretched and climbed up Nico's pants and shirt to fall asleep on his shoulder. Angel cracked one eye as I made my way towards her and accidentally shoved Mr. Stupid off the bed with her paws. Nico made grumbling noises under his breath, picking up Mr. Stupid and bruhsing bits of imaginary dust off his body. Shadow jumped off of Nico's shoulders and wandered around the bed, playing with string and Michael, who was on his hind legs, reaching his front paws up a little before he pulled them back down. Shadow seemed to be enjoying playing with her cousin.

Nico rolled his eyes. "One minute she's trying to murder him, three seconds later she's drinking water and now she wants to play." He looked up at me with a twinkle in his eye. "I think you gave me a defective cat."

"Kitten," I snapped, throwing a pillow to his head. "She's a kitten!"

* * *

><p>It was lunch time. According to Alexis and Shane we were having... DUN DUN DUN...<p>

CHICKEN SANDWICHES.

Unless you were vegetarian, didn't like chicken sandwiches or algeric to chicken. Then you got a vegetarian hamburgers or a simple but tasty hamburgers/cheeseburgers. I felt something was kind of off about Shane and I watched him as we walked to the Mess Hall. Nothing happened unless you count a giangatic hellhound being chased by Michael, Angel and Shadow as some delusion Shane created. I think the reason I felt somehing was off about him was that he never took off those shades. Never. The want to rip them off was building up in my stomach but I shoved it back. No. If there was anything wrong it was his choice to tell me.

As we were waiting for our food to arrive, I remembered what Alexis took the liberty to explain to me during breakfast about what you did at each meal. At first idea of chucking food into a barbque pit made me gag a bit. I guess if you were an immortal being you'd be used to the smell after a few centuries though. When I first got a whiff of the smell I didn't expect a sweet scent to flood through my nose. Hit by the sudden memory of the suculent scent, I shifted around. Once the chicken sandwiches arrived, I got up and followed Alexis and Shane. The line up was by cabin, oldest member of the cabin to the youngest. I watched Charles throw his food down after his brother Percy - the guy who asked for a picture at the beginning of the story - and walk back to his table. Everyone moved rapidly, new campers inhaling deep breaths of the smell. Then it was my turn. I broke off a piece of my sandwich and dropped in, inhaling quick breaths of the smell.

I walked back to my table where Alexis was seating herself while Shane was digging in. I sat on the opposite side of him as Alexis had her legs spread out on the rest of the bench. It was a peaceful lunch with music flowing from a radio on the Apollo table. That is it was until Alexis tried her hand at singing. Again. I don't think she understands that just by singing she could make a person become deaf. Shane clamped his hand around her mouth and threatened to suffocate her if she didn't shut up. As he pulled his hand away from her mouth she pouted and crossed her arms. Shane as usual ignored her, munching his sandwich. Even though I'd only been here for half a day the place was beginning to grow on me.

Shane reached for his drink and knocked it over, spilling the small remains of what had been Coco Cola on the table. Alice sniggered at his misfortune, clearly upset that he had shut off her singing. He grabbed a few napkins and tried to dab at the liquid. I honestly mean he tried by the way. I don't know why. He just kept missing the puddle when he was so clearly staring at it. That's when everything snapped into place.

"You're blind," I blurted out.

Instead of freezing up, like the last blind person I had met in the hospital, he just chuckled and glanced at someone. "Time?"

I turned to see a blonde girl check her watch. "Twelve twenty seven," she answered swiftly.

Shane did the math in his head before answering the unasked question. "Six hours and thirty-two minutes." He turned to me as some random kid scribbled the numbers down. "Well, done. The fastest person to figure it out." He jerked his head roughly in a misplaced direction that I assumed was meant for Alexis. "It took her a week to get it."

"Well, excuse me for wanting you to explain first," she drawled.

"Uh, huh. Right. Alexis, you were so busy talking about your life I think you forgot who I was."

Alexis blushed and smacked his arm. A wooden staff flew through the air and landed with a thump on the table. Shane snatched it and laid it carefully beside him. So it was some sort of test to see how fast I would figure out he was blind. Wow. That was... strange but I shrugged my shoulders and went with it. After all, he seemed to be able to get around so easily without having the cane. Then I realized a lot people had a tendecy to throw an arm around his neck or hold hands with him. It all seemed so casual I never truely noticed that they were guiding him around.

The rest of lunch went by smoothly and soon it was over. To make up time some people sparred with each other in the Arena. Others went swimming and a few went out wandering in the forest. I took a nap. A long, black nap. Unfortunately for me the blackness only lasted for a few minutes.

**- Dream - **

I was standing in a dark room. The lights turned on, flickering for three seconds before tapping out completely. A long groan right before the lights automaticatly turned back on. A black haired woman, who looked to be in her twenties, hissed as she shrugged off a small, wet coat.

"Charlie? Did the doctor come?" she yelled up the stairs.

There was no reply so the woman assumed the boy was sleeping. She ran her fingers through her damp hair and began moving to the staircase. A sudden movement in the small dark room to her left caught both of our attentions. She moved herfingers slowly over the wall before flipping the switch. The lights flushed on the try, no sudden stops or flickers. A little boy, only three from the looks of him, was hunched over something.

"Charlie?" the woman whispered. "Honey, is something wrong."

She took small steps towards the boy, fingers shaking by her sides. Even without the ripping noises and stench of blood in the air, you could tell the danger. When she was only a few steps away, the boy whirled around to her. His young eyes were yellow like a wolf, blood matted around his mouth. Behind him was the body of a man, blood pouring out his sides, bits of skin missing.

The boy looked at his mother with the innocent look on his face as he said, "Mr. Howard told me to eat when I was hungry, Mommy. So I did."

I recognized that innocent look. Charles? My homosexual friend? A murderer? At three? What kind of sick person raised him? I took a step back. If my father was the god of dreams then I should be able to leave, right? I turned and rushed out the home, stepping into a world I'd only seen in pictures. I jogged down the streets, realizing that the same thing must've happened to Charles that had happened to Nico. If not then the 1800s clothing style must've come back with my realizing it. I stepped into a bar and noticed a calendar hanging on the wall. 1891. Yay. I was right. Now to get out!

I pinched myself, slapped myself, punched myself. I did everything I could think of to myself up. Nothing really worked but I felt the pain. Sighing as I pushed myself from where I had fallen, I trudged back reluctantly to Charles's old home. Guess I'd have to brave it out. When I walked back in I heard yelling coming from upstairs so I ventured there, seeing Charles beat against a door, yelling, "Mommy!" over and over again. I slumped against the wall and watched him, checking my watch every few minutes. I went around the house, looking at random rooms and admiring the small things that laid around. I went back outside and made a mental image of the place so I could draw it acturately when I finally woke up.

Twenty-seven minutes went by and I walked back inside the home. Charles was stepping out of the way as his mother emerged from the eyes were tearing up. "You don't love me," he whimpered. His mother ignored him and walked back down the stairs, stepping around the dead body in the kitchen. Charles's eyes were sea green again, filling with tears. When his mother grabbed the ancient telephone and began to dial the numbers with that circle thingy, he got mad. His eye turned yellow again and he bared his teeth, revealing canine teeth. His small body shuddered and tackled his mother.

I stepped out and waited until the snarling and screams were over with. A young man with a shaved face stepped in the room. Charles walked out, terror claiming him as its own. He looked at the man.

"Mr. Howard?" he whimpered, sound so much like dog that had been kicked. "Is something wrong with me?"

Dr. Howard. My doctor. He just smiled at Charles and brushed back his hair. "Nothing is wrong with you, Charles. You're just hungry. Go clean yourself up and I'll take you to my home. M'kay?"

Charles nodded and stumbled up the stairs. Dr. Howard smoothed his tie and wrote something down. Peering over his shoulder, I noticed the words actually were readable. I took the chance I had to read it. This is what is said:

_Charles Cain - serum 3. Confirmed canine. Possible appetite raw meat. Take a deeper investigation._

That's when everything in the area shifted and changed.

**- Scene Change -**

Another boy was sitting in an office that smelt a lot of medicine. A doctor's office then. A woman came out from a room with a girl, who was rubbing her arm. A purple, flowered bandaid was on her shoulder. I looked back at the boy and noticed that he couldn't be more than three as well. What was up with being three? He was giggling at who I could tell was his mother. Same big blue eyes, same curly hair - although his was blonde and her hair was honey brown. Unlike Charles, though his voice wasn't speaking sentences yet. I frowned when I thought about that. Three year olds weren't supposed to be speaking sentences. Well, they could but their sentences were small and stunted.

"Charles must be faster in speech development," I reasoned.

After all, that could be the only possible answer. I was sure of it. A nurse stepped out of a room, holding up the chart to the light. She called out, "Shane Lewis!" and retreated back to the area of which she came. So what, I was going to see the three year old life of all the people I knew? To see what? Following Shane and his mother, I tried to figure out why I needed to see this. After he had manuvered his own way around the place, I came to the conclusion that this was before he went blind. His mother was about to step into the doctor's office with him when _he _poked his head out.

Dr. Howard.

He placed his hands on Shane's mother's shoulders and said, "It might be best if you wait out here. If you come in with him he'll expect it all the time and rely on you for shots. No matter what age."

She nodded, a little confusion in her face. She looked like she was going to protest but Dr. Howard closed the door in her face. He rubbed his hands together and tapped a chair. Eagerly, Shane sat down, bouncing like a chipmunk who had nothing but sodas for a week.

"Alright Shane." He positioned a needle with blue liquid in it on Shane's right shoulder. "You ready?" Shane nodded and played with some toys that Dr. Howard had given him. The needle went in deep, the blue liquid flowing swiftly into the blood stream. Shane winced slightly but other than that was oblivious to the injection.

"Good boy, Shane. Here have a lolly." Dr. Howard handed Shane a red lollipop and opened the door. His mother jumped up and smiled at Dr. Howard.

"Was he a good boy?" she asked.

Dr. Howard replied, "Very good."

Shane walked out the door, holding hands with his mother after they paid. Shane took a big bite of the lollipop and threw away the stick, chomping down of the lollipop. They started towards their car when Shane doubled over. He looked at his mother, a sick look on his face. He puked several times before looking to his mother.

"I feel sick, Mommy," he whispered. "I don't feel good." His speech had progressed all of a sudden. He was speaking normal sentences. What the flip was going on?

Then he passed out. Nothing changed like I expected it to so I walked back to Dr. Howard's office. Maybe I missed something. I looked at everything and noticed a piece of paper with writing on it that I hadn't seen before. On it was sort of the same strangeness thast was on Charles's paper.

_Shane Lewis - serum 24. Possible effect blindness. Confirmed increased speech. No further investigation needed._

After I read that everything shifted and changed.

**- Scene Change - **

This time it was me.

A little girl. I was only three. I recognized myself not having become deaf.

Yet.

I was laid down in a small white cot in a room that smelt like death. I was at the hospital because what happened Shane repeated itself in me. A doctor came in and told my mother the results of the blood test. They had found nothing and pulled my mother out to explain possiblities.

Lots of things were focused better now, my eyesight better than it should have been. The sounds of life began to fade slowly. I wrenched my tiny body up and threw up in a small paper bag before I passed out again. My mother walked in. They had told her they didn't know what was wrong with me, that any explanation would have to be further looked into or would spring up itself.

She rubbed my head and murmured, "Whatever happens you are not allowed to leave me." She laughed and a tear fell onto my arm. "Not with my mother." I followed her as she went around looking for the bathroom. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man duck into my room. I moved back towards my younger self. How much you want to bet it was Dr. Howard?

Of course it was. He was scribbling something down on another piece of paper. He pulled out a camera and put the paper down. I quickly scanned it as he took pictures of the blood test.

_Emily Porter - a mixture of all. Blood test results need further investigation. Proposed effect deafness. Assumed wider power progression. Further investigation needed._

I stared at Dr. Howard. A mixture of all what? How did he know that Shane was going to become blind? How did he know that I was going to become deaf. He grabbed the paper and put the camera back into his bag before he scrambled out the room.

This time I woke up.

**- End of Dream -**

I cracked open one eye like Angel would and came face to face with a white and black furry face which had green-yellow eyes. I patted Michael who was purring contentedly. He stretched and showed his teeth in a wide mouthed yawn. His tail whipped the pillow as he walked over to my legs. He pulled himself onto them and stared at me. He seemed so human. He cocked his head to the side as though to say, "What's wrong?"

"I found out my doctor is weird old guy doing stuff to young children. Nothing big." I ran my fingers through his fur. He nipped my finger affectionately. I looked around. A loud blaring noise alerted me and the stream of running kids made me realize I should follow. Michael snapped to attention, following me as I followed the last few kids in the crowd. I made it to a the middle of a feild to see a crowd of people surrounding something. I jumped and tried to get a glimpse of whatever they were looking at. It didn't work. I ducked and tried to see through their legs to get a glimpse of whatever they were looking at. It didn't work.

Michael's method was much more effective. I believe he called it the scratch, claw and bite people until they bleed. When they do and they turn bite them from behiind and wait until Emily can see. It's a long name name but, eh. I peeked over someone's shoulder and saw a redheaded girl. Nico had a hand clamped over her mouth. Chiron nodded and Nico let go of the girl's mouth. I realized that she was the Oracle Alice had told me about.

A ghostly swirl of green let out of her mouth and she spoke in a raspy tone:

_Silent and in between  
>The leader of six has always seen.<br>Kind yet more painful than the rest  
>The second has never been on a quest.<br>The third is not the last  
>But rather imbedded with a dark past.<br>On to the fourth, it is a he  
>Who will kill for his love as it may be.<br>The last two you must carefully choose  
>Or talents you need you will lose.<br>A change in blood of the children  
>Will create a world we can not live on.<br>In this quest find the blind man with old eyes  
>And realize the friend that lies.<br>Pain is heard of, death is too  
>Follow the dreams and man of two.<br>He will reveal he is the father  
>And one's blood will bring up his daughter.<em>

The girl passed out into the waiting arms of two campers. They helped her to her feet and sat her down. A wave of nerves moved around the room. I stepped back. Well, nothing in that prophecy mentioned anything remotely close to me so I stepped back and fled the scene. Michael followed obdeiently, leading the way back to our cabin. I grabbed a book and peered out the window. Nobody else was leaving. Maybe I wasn't supposed to. I shook my head. It didn't matter. Nothing mentioned me or anything close to me and who would willingly choose a newbie, espicially a deaf newbie, to go with them on a quest where death and pain is heard of. So I was safe. I laid on the floor but no matter what I did my mind automatically drew itself to that prophecy.

"Do what you do best then," a voice whispered in my head. I turned, instinctively to Michael, who was watching me. He didn't move at all. His body was straight up and staring at me. "Draw."

I stared at him for only a few moments before I pulled my body up. I grabbed some paper, a few pencils and a box set of coloured pencils. I put myself back on the ground. I pulled off my hearing aids, finding the silence better to concetrate. My mind was unfocused as though I was suffering from a cold or lack of sleep. I couldn't tell you what I was doing during the mooment my pencil tip met paper. Everything went blank and it felt as though I couldn't even see the sketches I was doing. More like I was being possessed and it was blocking the view. All I know was that my fingers were moving and I was drawing faster than I had ever done.

When I was done after twenty-nine minutes I pulled back and looked at each person in the picture. Overhead each person was the lines describing them from the prophecy. The first was of me with the first two lines recited above me. Crap. The second was Alice, in her hand a long bronze sword. I guess the lines relating to her meant she induced more pain than her cabin. The third was Charles with yellow eyes and a wolf shadow behind him. His hands were in fists. Those lines definitely were for him. The fourth person was Nico who had a dark murderous look in his eyes. He did seem like the type to kill someone. The last two were Jessica and Benjamin. I wondered what talents they had that would be of importance. Michael plodded over to me, nudging my hearing aids before returning to staring at me. I pulled them on and got ready to throw the picture away.

"Show them," the voice whispered. "You have four days to train and ready yourself. Then it is time to leave."

I rubbed the back of my neck, nervously. I was supposed to lead people. I couldn't lead myself. How was I supposed to lead other people? Ignoring my questions pondering through my head, I shoved open the door. Michael, as he had the last few times, followed me out the door and into the open air. Sometimes I panic in times of presentation. I think this is going to be one of those times.

* * *

><p>Hello lovely people of the world. After looking over the random pop up of some characters I had, I felt that some of you might get confused so I wrote up lists of each character! Including the animals! Thank you for reading!<p>

**List of Characters (Girls):**

Emily Porter (15, deaf) - daughter of Morpheus, half-sister to Shane Lewis and Alexis Mitchell, best friend to Alice Richards and Daniel Daniels.

Alice Richards (15) - daughter of Aphrodite, half-sister to Jessica Halpert and Aphrodite Cabin, stepsister to Daniel Daniels, best friend to Emily Porter.

Jessica Halpert (15) - daughter of Aphrodite, half-sister to Alice Richards and Aphrodite Cabin, girlfriend to Nico di Angelo.

Alexis Mitchell (13) - daughter of Morpheus, half-sister to Emily Porter and Shane Lewis.

**List of Characters (Boys):**

Charles Cain (15, homosexual) - son of Posiedon, half-brother to Percy Jackson, boyfriend to Benjamin Whitlock, best friend to Nico di Angelo.

Benjamin Whitlock (15, homosexual) - son of Hepheastus, half brother to Hepheastus Cabin, boyfriend to Charles Cain, best friend to Nico di Angelo.

Shane Lewis (17, blind) - son of Morpheus, half-brother to Emily Porter and Alexis Mitchell.

**List of Animals (Girls):**

Angel Porter (1, kitten) - daughter of Cleo, older sister to Michael, cousin to Shadow, pet to Emily Porter.

Shadow di Angelo (4 months, kitten) - daughter of Louise, cousin to Michael and Angel, pet to Nico di Angelo.

**List of Animals (Boys):**

Michael Porter (1, kitten) - son of Cleo, younger brother to Angel, cousin to Shadow, pet to Emily Porter.

Me: Wow! I have a lot of characters.  
>Shane: Why do you count the cats? Sorry. Kittens.<br>Me: Kittens are cool. Plus they're important.  
>Shane: How? They's cats!<br>Beta: Shut up! Cats and kittens are so important. They keep you warm.  
>Me: They snuggle with you when you're sick.<br>Emily: And...  
>Me, Beta and Emily: They're sooooooo cute!<br>Shane: So you guys are making fun of Nico now?  
>Nico: Who's making fun of me?<br>Me, Beta and Emily: No one!

So what do you guys think about this chapter? Did you find Nico's teddy bear obession amusing? Also, the shades of pink mentioned for the teddy bear Jessica was holding are really different coloured pinks!

-Happykid44


	5. Chapter 5

A steady silence came from the loud noise of chattering people as I stepped into the Mess Hall. I gripped my picture and walked quickly to Chiron. I showed him the picture, bouncing on the heels of my feet. My nerves were spraying everywhere. I could feel the looks of everyone bare into my back. Panic arose within the deep pits of my stomach. I guess I wasn't supposed to leave but I did and now I was being punished for it. Great. Just my luck. Michael jumped on the table and stared at Chiron. He cocked his head the side. Maybe he's a dog in disguise or something.

"Four days," that voice whispered but this time instead of being in my head, it was in the air. "Give her four days to train."

People jumped at the sudden intrusion of a voice that didn't seem to have a body. Unless it came from Michael which I doubted. He's just a kitten. A smart yet silly kitten. No. It was a ridiculous idea. Kittens and cats couldn't talk no matter how smart they were. Chiron looked up at the expectant kids and gave a sort grimace smile.

"I believe we have our warriors." He showed the picture to camp. I shuffled quietly over to my table. Michael hopped from table to table until he got to mine. I buried my nose in his fur, feeling his chest rise and fall ashe breathed. Shane, who was perched beside me, tried to put his arm around my shoulders. It didn't work. Instead he smacked my head which pushed further into Michael who let out a strangled yelp and jumped away which caused me to hit my face. I raised my head and stared at Shane who was staring straight ahead, his arm on the table. My nose hurt. I wondered briefly if it was bruising

"Thank you. Would you like to break a bone now?" I asked sarcastically.

Staring at my face but not really seeing it, he erupted into a bright red blush. "Sorry."

I patted his arm and then guided it carefully around my neck. He pulled me closer, muttering a series of "Sorry"s into my hair. I had a feeling that wasn't where he meant to direct it but anyway. As I had my face buried into the armpit of my dear half-brother, someone asked the question that hung silently in the air.

"How do we know that's them?" the kid called out. "How do we know she didn't draw that so she could be on the quest? How-"

"Shut up!" snapped Alice. "She just got here. Emily can't fight monsters yet. She tried to run away when she got here. She panics way too easily under pressure." She shot me a look that said 'Sorry' all over it but returned to talking to the kid. "I doubt she even wanted to show the picture. But guess what, you mentally retarded idiot. She did and the first line fits her best anyway so it has to be her. Alright?"

The kid glared at her so she hissed at him. He looked kind of taken back as she her fingers went for a fork. She always did like it when someone died in movies. Espcially when the pretty girl that always gets what she wants gets murder. Though as soon as an animal or a character she likes drops down dead she'll start releasing out a river of tears. I glanced at her, momentarily to find some of her half-siblings prying the fork out of her raised fingers.

"Dude," Nico began. The kid turned to look at him. "Your death sense is getting really loud. Apologize and and she'll let it go. I don't feel like suffering for the next hour."

That's about the time that the redheaded girl woke up. She raised one hand and suddenly all the little whispers stopped. Wow. The power to silence whoever you wanted. I wish I had that. I could really use it against Alice. At first she cleared her throat then she glanced around the room. I imagined her making mental notes and filing them away in some imaginary cabinet in her brain. Chiron had placed the picture I drew in front of her so when she looked down she frowned.

"Wow, that is accurate." She smiled and laughed quietly to herself. "Guess my place will be stolen." She wrapped one arm around Chiron and pretended to cry. "I never even got to draw everyone's faces."

A light laughter filled the room. No one looked at me doubtfully anymore. I closed my eyes in reflief. When I opened them I jumped back in surprise to what I saw. The red-headed girl looked at me as though she was worried for a moment but nobody said anything. I saw a dark black ghosty thing. It wrapped around some little girl and almost in instinct I threw a fork at it. When I did it I had the sudden doubt that throwing a fork at a large ghosty black thing wouldn't really do much but the fork lodged itself in the creature's arm. It pulled away from the little girl. As everyone stared at me in complete shock - except for Shane but he's got a reason - I watched the ghost thing shift quickly into a boy who snarled at me in irritation before disappearing completely. I froze up as the stares of confusion bore into me.

Man, this was an awkward moment. I cleared my throat and came up with the most stupidest excuse I could think of.

"I saw a bee."

Even in my head when I was rushing over excuses it sounded stupid. Who in the world would throw a fork at a bee? A mental patient? Unfortunately before I could even think any further about another excuse it slipped out. '_Well,' _I thought to myself, _'at least you gave an excuse.' _I sat back down again and buried my head in my arms. Again. Michael sniffed my hair and then began to eat it. Moving on arm out from underneath my face plant, I grabbed him by his scrawny kitten neck and dropped him into Shane. Let him eat Shane's hair instead. I then slipped my arm back from underneath me as Shane let out a hiss of pain accidentally smacking Alexis in the arm with his hand.

I peeked out to look at him. He was just unnaturally clumsy, wasn't he? I glanced down to Michael who had seated himself neatly next to Shane's punctured hand. Blood flowed out quickly from the two small holes that reminded me instantly of vampires. Michael looked at the hand innocently before he licked it as though he hadn't bit it just moments before. The silence in the air slowly filled with quiet chatter that progressly got louder and louder, with the youngers kids twitching and moving furiously in their seats. Chiron granted everyone to leave, giving me look that told me to stay for a moment once everyone was gone. Michael was dumped roughly on to the table by Alexis for Shane was in fear of being bit again. I laughed to myself and nudged Michael's nose.

"Where's your sis?" I asked. "You follow her as closely as stalker follows her victim."

He cocked his tiny little head like a dog. I looked at him real serious like. "I'm not being sexist, buddy. It's just everyone else always uses 'him' so I'm not going to right now. It's pratically imedded into my DNA. It's who I am." I pushed his paw. "Plus, a stalker can be a girl anyway."

He looked as though he was considering this fact and then sat back on his haunches, staring at me creepily. I pushed his head away in the direction of a bird pecking at the ground. He perked up imediately and quietly stalked down the table. He got ready to pounce, wiggling his butt like cats do, and just as he landed his back left paw slipped on the grass and he landed smack down on his back. The bird tweeted and pecked him in the stomach before flying away. I imagined it was laughing at him while it tweeted contentedly in the air. Shadow darted over and sniffed him.

"If all cats land on their feet, you must be the exception," the redheaded girl snickered. She turned to me. "Hi. I'm Rachel."

I smiled and raised one hand in greeting. "Emily." I gestured to Michael who was engaged in a fight with Shadow. "And this loser is Michael." I looked back at here. "Loser meaning both someone who loses and someone who is downright pathetic."

Michael screeched and jumped away from Shadow who had been smacking his nose previously as they were fighting. He looked at me like I was suppose to scold her or something. I put both hands in the air. "Hey you got into this mess, buddy. I can't help it if you're just a natural weakling." I turned back to Rachel muttering, "Plus you should be able to beat _her_ up, doofus."

I brushed back my hair from my eyes with my hand and turned back to Rachel. "He has mental issues that I'm not allowed to talk about. Angel doesn't want people think she's a wimp because he is." I smiled, knowing she would have no understanding of what I just said. I mean, who took orders from a kitten that sleeps half the time. She gave me a curious smile but didn't say anything, choosing to rather turn her head to Michael. He was resting in front of me. I busied myself with playing with my fingers as she thought over what else she wanted to say. She opened her mouth, ready to instruct me on what to do now when a voice cleared across the room.

"Emily!"

We both turned to see Nico jogging up to us. Next to him was Jessica which by my defintion meant she doesn't trust him enough to let him go by himself. I turned back into the direction of Rachel and muttered, "Obessive much?"

Rachel snickered and shook her head only slightly. "No. He was considered a prize to befriend because he was kind of a loner before. Then Hazel and Percy restricted him to Camp during the summer after he went missing. He stuck to his cabin for a week and then when he finally came outside all the girls were over him." She laughed loudly at this point. Sending a quick glance over to Nico she continued, "Apparently he was somewhat mysterious."

She shook her head and smiled lightly. "But Nico didn't date. Everyone thought he was too nervous to ask any girl out so we held a girl-ask-boy dance and Jessica asked him first." She looked back over to them now that they were a bit closer. "He agreed and they've been dating ever since. She's stuck to him like super glue. She won't let anyone get close enough to even try to steal him." Rachel looked back at me and her voice lowered to a volume barely above a whisper. I watched her speak as I lifted a glass of orange to my mouth. "But between you and me I don't think he loves her." She then smiled at me.

I raised one eye and managed out an "Oh?" through a mouthful of orange juice.

"No. I think he prefers you."

A wave of surprise shuddered down my back. I clamped one hand over my mouth to keep the orange juice from spewing out. After I managed to swallow I stared up at Rachel's smiling expression in shock. Me? What the hell was going through _her_ mind? I opened my mouth to say something about it but Nico jogged up to my table, smiling as he did so before I could say anything. I smiled back him and then rubbed the back of my neck nervously. Jessica slid into place next to Nico, immediately clasping her hands with him.

Nico ignored Jessica's obvious grip and untangled their fingers. "Hey Rach. I just wanted Emily to get a head start on her training. She only has four days, y'know."

"She has a week," Rachel interjected. "A week."

The voice magically came back and argued with Rachel about how long I should train. Jessica, Nico and I stood there awkwardly as we watched Rachel argue with a voice. Do I need to mention that said voice has no body which made it all the more awkward?

"Four days."

"A week."

"Four days."

"A week."

"Four days."

"A week."

"Four days!"

"A week!"

Apparently the voice had a lower arguemental status than Rachel because it grumbled, "Fine. She can have a week but only a week."

Rachel smiled at us and guestered for us to go on our way. Nico muttered something about how when invisible things start talking it's best not to talk back. Rachel smacked him, her hand contacting to the back of his head emitting a loud **THACK!**

I snickered and followed them to the arena. That's when I was pushed over in the direction to the weapons table.

"Time to pick my murdering tool." I thumped my hand into the air.

Nico slung one arm around my shoulders, not noticing the irritated look Jessica gave him. "That's the spirit."

As we walked over to the weapons I watched some kids stab and pretty much rip dummies apart and thought to myself: Is this where deaf kids go to die?

* * *

><p>"Some how I get the feeling that not talking about my utter destruction will make you want to hear it more," I muttered under my breath.<p>

Alice bounced up and down in her chair. Daniel was rolling his eyes. Alice had dragged my currently healing body from the infirmary where I was being treated for my wounds and conducted what is called an Iris Message. Out of nowhere Daniel and a bunch of other kids appeared. I think Alice slapped me to get me to stop freaking out. I have a tendency to do that a lot. It comes with the terrority.

Alice groaned and grabbed my face. "You didn't say anything about it."

"Alice," Daniel called out. "Maybe she doesn't want you to know about her utter destruction in the arena."

Alice snorted and squeezed my stomach. Rolling her eyes, she said, "Of course she wants to tell me all about it. I mean almost every kid messes up on their first time. Even Percy did." She looked back up at me innocently. "And Percy is what we consider amazing at swordplay."

I nodded and patted her head. " I know Alice," I whispered. "You've told me at least ten times now."

"Tell me," she whined. "Pluh-ease!"

I looked at Daniel who shrugged. "I doubt that she is going to shut up about so you might as well, Em. Anyway, it couldn't have been that bad."

I glared at Daniel but sighed. Unfortunately he was right about Alice never shutting up. He was wrong about how it couldn't have been that bad.

It was a fairly painful time. After we found my perfect weapon - a sword that was nicely balanced - Nico had promised to go easy on me. Jessica helped me with the armor which was really heavy but easily movable inside. I took one step forward and collasped. I don't know how many times I fell over because of the armor but I can tell you it was honestly a lot of times.

In the end we took off the armor and Nico swore that he would try to not cut me up. At first it was really simple and easy and I managed to get some hits in but then some kids stole Nico from us because they needed his help in bathing Mrs. O'Leary when we took a break for water and I ended up fighting with Shane. According to Shane, he's better with arrows but he is fairly good with a sword. He said he has a tendecy to miss his target more often with a sword than with an arrow though.

Shane killed me.

Not physically, of course. I mean I'm here. No, I mean that he killed me metaphorically. He was right in the fact that he did miss his target because there were a few time in which he aimed in the wrong direction. It had been going well for the first ten minutes than all of a sudden he was possessed, working harder to smack me and hit me. That's how it went for an entire half an hour until I ended up on my back all of a sudden. I guess Shane hadn't heard my body smack the ground because he swung his sword across the air for a few seconds before gumbling to himself. In a pit of anger he positioned the sword unfortunately above me and began to aim downwards.

Fearing for my life, I reached up with my hands and stopped it, blood dripping down the length of my arm. In truth it was my hands that were damaged the most, deep cuts within both of them. According to Shane, his sword has a special feature on it so that when he hits the ground with his sword the sword vibrates and he somehow feels everything and can identify where the enemy is. That is what he had been hoping to accomplish with me. I patted his shoulder with my elbow and told him that he should stick to the arrows.

The healers had managed to heal my minor cuts that went around my body but the cuts on my hand were too deep and ended up leaving a scar. The healers were worried that if they used any more nectar of ambrosia on me I might litterally burst into flames so I'm stuck with the scars.

As I replayed this back to Alice and Daniel I couldn't help but notice the protective look that suddenly showered over Daniel's face when I mention my metaphorical death. I rolled my eyes. When we used to walk around the park with each as kids, sometimes people thought he was _my_ brother because of his protectiveness over me rather than Alice. I just hummed and kicked my legs as they both were quiet for a second. Eventually they both came to the conclusion that I was just suckish at swordplay because I was just starting out. In the end, they decided, I would be the one beating him to a metaphorical pulp.

The conch called out loud and clear, causing a few birds to scatter from the trees. I brushed back my hair and got up. Alice folded the chairs, scribbled down a thank you note and put them against a tree for the nymph to collect them. Alice sliced her hand through the Iris Message as Daniel called out a good bye and dragged me by my arm. Sometimes I don't think she understands that I can walk by myself.

As we walked she talked a mile a minute, going on and on about certain relationships she knew weren't going to make it by the end of the summer, Alexis needing a makeover and a new hair cut, which guys she was hoping to date and how much she really thought they were cute. I just hummed and watched the clouds as the sun moved down into the horizon. Alice's voice trailed off as she slowly realized that she didn't truely have my full attention. She stopped moving and looked up at the reddening sky with me and for that one moment everything was silent and still as though daring us to make the first move. Then I titled my head back down and we began to walk again.

Sometimes there are things you don't get that you need to ask about and other times there are things you don't get that you soon will. My staring at the sky confused Alice immensely but she knew better not to ask because sooner or later she'd understand.

For me it was the way everything happened in the same way all the time. Every time day fell into night the sky would turn dark pink then orange then red and then black. And it happened all the time. The only difference was the time that it happened. It changed every single day but that was life. A changing world with the same things still happening. Grasping that was kind of hard when I first explained it to my mom so I never really bothered to explain to anyone else but for the weird people who find some sort of enjoyment in this story I figured it would be nice to give you some insight on my mind. No matter how odd and crazy it may seem.

* * *

><p>Sleep.<p>

It sounded so easy for a child of Morpheus but in truth is one of the hardest things that a person - who is sober and not younger then, at least, ten - could go through. First you have to find that certain position that makes you relax. Second you have to close your eyes and block out all the distracting thoughts that want to keep you up. Third you have to clear your mind or at least daydream for a while. The first thing and the third thing to do are probably the easiest but the second one has complications.

When you're stuck in the dark where no one can see you that's the time when fear can steal you away and hurt you. Sometimes your mind creates scenarios that couldn't possibly come true but still scare you. Other times it's just you wondering what will happen the next day. There are times when you walk through a fight or an arguement you had with another person. It's these tiny things that keep you up.

None of these things happened to me. All I did was lay back and star at the bottom of the bed on top of mine. My mind had an image of myself breathing going through it. It was totally blank but I couldn't sleep at all. I didn't know but I didn't try to venture into it.

Three days had gone by since my first official day at camp, since the prophecy. I practiced daily and was getting better at it. This afternoon I had been able to metaphorically kill Shane after half an hour of fighting him. At first I just assumed I won because he was tired but he said that I won fair and square. I still have that feeling that he lied but either way I'm pretty proud I managed to finally getting something on the ground. Even the dummies which CAN'T move still managed to make me fall so beating up Shane was a nice twist to things.

I sighed and sat up, staring at the black wall in front of me. I stared at it for a about twelve minutes then got up and walked out of the cabin. My fingers slipped on my hearing aids so I could listen out for the harpies wandering around. The air was cold but it felt nice against my skin which was really hot. I walked over to a tree and stuck to the shadows as I heard the harpies walk closely to where I was.

It was a simple trick Nico taught me one night when I wanted to draw the water in the moonlight but was too freaked out to do so because I honestly thought I was going to get eaten. Apparently they are somewhat blind at night so if you hid in the shadows, really close to the trees, and pretty much nature in general, then you might be able to wander out of camp or just around it.

I waited until they passed, counting to thirty after I couldn't hear their footsteps, before I jogged out to the beach. My body dropped face first towards the sand. I shoved my hands outwards, catching myself before I got a faceful of sand.

"Quick maunvering," a voice chuckled from behind me. I jumped up in surprise, the force of my feet hitting the ground causing a small bunch of sand to fly up. I turned to find Nico grinning. "I think that's the right word anyway," he mumbled as he threw his arm around my shoulders.

I peered behind us, trying to get a glimpse of the obessive girlfriend that he had. No one followed. Nico rolled his eyes and slipped his arm down to my waist.

In a mocking tone, he said, "My only love is for you, my fair Emily." He dipped me down so that my legs struggled to keep me upright. "The other means nothing. So I have followed you under the safety of the night to profess something deep inside."

I snickered. Earlier in the day Alice made me come up with a love story for her. I scribbled it all out on paper, trying to make it sound as corny and hopelessly in love as I could. It somewhat worked. After my succession in destroying Shane metaphorically she read it out to our (mostly her) tiny group of friends. Nico must've memorized it or something.

Remembering the girl's part, I recited, "But my darling Nico, she is a friend." I waved my hand as though trying to make my point. "And one does not take a friend's heart and willingly smash it to the ground. It is rude and quite cruel." He pulled me and close, staring at my face with something that could be love or affection. At that point I thought that he really could get a career in acting. I got ready for the next line, sounding and feeling extremely stupid as I brushed a single finger against his lips. He pulled me closer.

"Let us part ways with a single kiss, my darling. Maybe one day we can unite. But until then, good bye." When I finshed I expected hm to let me go and to burst out laughing as he had when Alice read it. Instead he took one hand and curved it around my neck, pulling me in deeply and quickly for a short and quick kiss.

I couldn't even experience it like I had always wanted to with my first real, non-influenced kiss. Nico pulled away a few seconds after, his eyes wide. He opened his mouth to explain while I stood there frozen in shock. I could hear an audiable gulp erupt from him before he stepped away, muttered good night and ran off into the shadows.

_'Well, that was eventful,'_ I thought to myself. I turned to where he had run away and said aloud the thought coursing through my brain.

"What the hell?"

I stood there for a while and rocked back and forth on my heels. Sighing, I muttered a swear word in Greek - which I'm learning - and walked further down the beach. Michael, Angel and Shadow darted out from the woods followed by Mrs. O'Leary who looked like she was enjoying the chase. Tye ran around me in circles but I didn't really notice that much. Looking back on it I think my head was so filled up with questions I didn't really notice much of anything. Not until the water decided to its presence known and flood over my feet.

I jumped in surprise and stumbled back, tripping over my feet. I collapsed on the sand, grains of it sticking to my palm and fingers, sinking into my nails. I sat there for a while, feeling content. The salty sea breeze made my head feel a bit dizzy for a while but in the end it wore off like it always did. I curled up into a positiion most cats felt comfortable sleeping in and stretched my toes and fingers. My body jumped off of the ground a couple of times before Mrs. O'Leary settled down in front of me. Her tail wrapped around my body and pulled me in close to her. I closed my eyes as the warmth rocked me like a lullaby.

I wished I was home.

I wished I was normal.

* * *

><p>The sunlight streamed in through a tiny crack between Mrs. O'Leary's tail and the three annoying kittens that surrounded me. I cracked open one eye and realized slowly that I was still on the beach. Grains of sand feel out of my hair as I stood and stretched my back, feeling the cracks and pops that felt so good. Angel walked in front of me before scampering up my pant leg and my shirt just so she could settle on my shoulder. I have really strange kittens.<p>

The other two jumped on top of Mrs. O'Leary but Shadow shoved Michael off. He let out a series of what I guess were cat swear words. Weirdo. I picked him up and dropped him inside my shirt, a habit I picked up when I was younger during the winter. I used to walk over to Cleo or Louise and pick them up to drop them inside my t-shirts so I could get their warmth. It was a nice method.

Until they wanted to get out and began to scratch me to do so. But that part doesn't really matter.

I lifted up the bottom of my shirt, curving it inwards so that Michael didn't fall out. With one hand I pulled my collar outwards so I could see his skinny, furry body. He looked like he was having fun so I stopped walking and left go of my shirt. He fell out, landing on his back. This is why I think he's defective because surely that can't be normal?

He gave me a "What the hell is wrong with you?" look so I merely replied, "Nothing's wrong with _me_ Mike but I'm sure something's wrong with you. I mean, what cat can't ever land on his feet?"

I walked on, ignoring his cries of protest. After a few minutes I heard a quiet thud. I turned around to find Mrs. O'Leary sniffing Michael's body which was on the ground. On my tippy-toes I peered behind him and saw a small rockle: not quite small enough to be a pebble; not quite big enough to be called a rock. One of his hind legs was splayed over top of it while the rest of his body was smack-face-down in the dirt. What is wrong with him? Maybe he just wasn't good with earth. Weirdo.

We continued on our way to the cabins. Michael tripped and fell mutiple times, causing me to question his agility. Well, there is always one that has some wrong mentality in every bunch of newborn... anythings, really. I stood at the doorway of my cabin, rocked on the heels of my feet, got an annoyed hiss from Angel and sighed. I brushed out a few grains of sand from my hair with my hand before deciding it would be easier to just shake my head. Angel hopped off of my shoulder to Mrs. O'Leary's nose, climbed up it to get to the hellhound's head and then jumped off, lanidng perfectly on the roof of my cabin. Shadow was already there, perched at the edge as though whatever came withiin close range she'd jump on, considering that Mrs. O'Leary had decided to go chase a frisbee way smaller than her.

From the inside I heard Shane let out a series of swear words when Alexis yelled at him to find me in under twenty minutes otherwise he'd have to make my bed. I took a quick step back to avoid getting hit by Shane who hurriedly stepped back. My eyes snapped up to Shadow who, still perched at the edge of the roof, got into the pouncing position. Oh no. Alexis yelled something else in Greek to Shane who screamed back a reply. As he stepped out from under the thin protection of roof, Shadow jumped on to the top of his head and meowed loudly. Shane grabbed her skinny figure and ripped her from the top of his head. He reached out and swung his arm around, grabbing my arm and pulling me close to him so that he could tell me something.

"I am murdering your cats," he snarled. The he let me go and shoved me through the still open doorway.

As he stomped away angrily I turned around and called out, "Techinaically, she's Nico's kitten!"

He raised a repesective finger in my direction. I bit my lip and walked inside the cabin. Alexis was dangling upside down on this bar she had set up near her bed. It was a metal bar that resembled like a minitature version of the bars in a dance studio. Except instead of stretching from wall to wall it was attached to two poles and stretched about five feet. Her hair was a completely different colour now, bright green strips clumping to the floor as she hung. Her eyes were closed. The door clicked shut and her eyes shot open. I got down on my knees and waved. She smiled and waved back before pointing to my unmade bed in a demanding fashion. I rolled my eyes but obeyed and travelled over to my bed.

Shadow wandered over to Alexis who had closed her eyes again and was smiling. I ripped the blanket off of my bed and dumped it beside me. Angel walked out from underneath it as I straighten my pillow and jumped on to my bed, curling up on my pillow when my back was turned. I draped the blanket over top her and folded it downwards so that her body was revealed. Smoothing out the blankets, I heard a small sigh. Alexis pulled herself up and dropped flat on her bed. She sighed again and stared at the bottom of the top bunk dreamily.

I rolled my eyes and mumbled, "Who's the dream guy now?"

She pulled herself up and grinned at me. "His name is Daniel and I'm in love." She fell back down and rolled on to her stomach so I could see her face.

I seated myself on a purple chair, the front of my body pressed against the back of the chair. "How'd you met him?"

"Well, first he asked one of his friends to Iris Message you because he had to pee, but the girl forgot your name so she just said-" She was silenced as I slapped my hand over her mouth.

"Wait. You mean Daniel, _my _Daniel. My best_ friend_ Daniel?" I asked, bewlidered.

"_Yeah_." She sounded like she was letting out all the air that was incased in her lungs. I shook my head, feeling the protective sisterly feelings for both of them arise. I gestuered for her to continue. She smiled and continued, " So the girl contacted our cabin instead but you weren't there." She alughed a little bit before continuing. "And I'm sort of a heavy sleeper whereas Shane pratically detects every noise going on. Daniel was calling out for you in like, uh, you know how people scream and whisper at the same time?" I nodded. She smiled. "It was like that. So Shane had gotten up and yelled at me. Then I woke up an saw Daniel and I asked him what he was doing and he said he wanted to tell you something and I said I could write it down for you but he said it could be easily misplaced or lost or stolen. Then we talked about random things, waiting for you until Shane got annoyed and disrupted our conversation." She sighed, depressedly and dreamily mixed together. "He's so beautiful."

I frowned. "He is? When did that transaction happen?"

She smacked me on the arm and grumbled, "You wouldn't see it because you're his friend, not his wannbe girlfriend." She stared at the ceiling for a few empty moments before murmuring, "I thought you two were dating but when I mentioned it he laughed." She smiled after this statement as though remembering a happy moment. "He said, and I quote, 'I would never date Emily. She's like a sister to me. Hell, she is my sister. You know metaphorically. Anyway, do I look like a god to you?'"

"Well, the gods do like to practice incest a lot," I replied as I fell on to her bed beside her. Heat radiated off of her in pools of warmth that splashed over my skin and dug deep in side of it, heating me up from the inside. We both laid there in silence and peace, sharing body warmth despite our bodies being at least a foot apart.

Then she turned to me, looking extremely serious and said, "You still have to make your bed."

I laughed and whacked her with a minature pillow that sat in the center of a collection of small pillows at the end of her bed.

* * *

><p>The sun beat down on me, heating up my face and hair. If the Apollo decided to go hotter my hair would probably burst into flames. I groaned and dropped my face into the sand. The few tiny children, who had sneakly buried my entire body in a hole in the sand while I was sleeping, screamed at me to lift my head back up. They were daughters of Aphrodite, wanting to play and style my hair mutiple times. I sighed and tried to move but the sand trapped me. I whined and muttered a few swear words under my breath. One of the girls whacked me on my cheek with her hair brush. It stung badly and I let out a howl of pain. They snapped at me to shut up. I wanted to slap them but considering the only movement I was allowed was above shoulders that dream seemed very faint.<p>

I leaned my head back and groaned, "Could I have a hat or something to block the light?"

The youngest girl looked at me annoyed and shook her head, her blond pigtails waving around. She had to be about four or five and she didn't talk much. I sighed and whined about the sun for the next ten minutes until they slapped a piece of duct tape over my mouth.

"You're too pale anyway," one of the girls snapped.

Too pale? Too pale? Look at Nico. He's practically dead! And they think I'm pale? What the hell is wrong with this world?

I dropped my face back into the sand and began to smack it repeatedly against the tiny grains. When I raised my head eight minutes and thirty-two seconds later (I was counting because I had nothing left to do) I saw freedom. Actually, I just saw Nico running across the beach but his hair was pretty shaggy and he was pale. I tried to point him out to the kids by making muffled noises behind the duct tape. If they didn't take the bait maybe Nico could save me. Then when we were alone I would nicely let him know that I do not feel the same way as he does and that if he can't respect Jessica the way a boyfriend should he should leave the relationship before she ends up hurt. One of the girls who had apparently enough of my noise, looked me in the eyes and said, "If you complain again then it's going back on and you can't do anything to stop me." She then procceeded to rip the tape off which really stung. I prayed as my tongue licked over my lips that no skin had been pulled off. There was blood. The gods are cruel.

Nico turned his head in my direction and waved before changing his route up to us. I notice that as Nico grew closer the brushes going through my hair and the movement behind me minilized to the point where once Nico was exactly one foot and eight inches away from us they stopped. I smiled at them being young and so hopelessly crushing on their sister's boyfriend. Wait a minute. An exact measurement of how far Nico was away from me? Have I adapted into a mental measuring tape now?

I shook my head and ignored the confused thoughts scrambling around in my brain. Next thing I know Nico was football tackled by a bunch of squealing girls. His terrified yells were muffled due to the fact that they had built a pyramid on top of him, giggling and laughing. I moaned and dumped my face back in the sand. With them on top of him there would be no way he could get me out of the sand . He'd probably run off once he managed to get free. A few grains of sand fell into my mouth as I sighed depressedly.

Instantly I raised my head and began to shake my head and spit out the grains of sand. I licked my shoulder, trying to get some of the sand off of my tongue but it didn't really help. Thankfully it didn't make it worse either. Groaning in irritance, I leaned back after five minutes and eight seconds of spitting. I had succeeded in getting most of the sand out of my mouth but a few grains refused to leave. For a moment I wondered if a person could get sick by swallowing sand. Nico stuck his head out from the opposite side of which he had fallen down and managed to push on arm out.

"Need some water?" he groaned as he struggled to move his body out from underneath the girls.

"That would be nice."

I opened my mouth and Nico grabbed a small bottle of water the little girls had, pouring some of it into my mouth. Some of it dribbled down my chin but I really didn't care at the moment. Anything thing to get the sand to go away. I spat it out and leaned my had back again. No more sand contaminated my mouth anymore which honestly felt great. I pulled my head back up to find Nico consumed again by the pile of girls. I heard him yell something that I couldn't understand but sort sounded like a cry for help. I rolled my eyes and shifted as much as I could. It didn't work.

"So when do plan on saving me?" I questioned.

Nico made a muffle yell and his leg someohow managed to erupt from the end of the pile. Then another leg and soon his waist was out. As there was nothing else to do I took extreme notice to detail of his body. First of all trying to squeeze himself out had caused his pants to move maybe an inch and a half down his waist, revealing a dark red waist band and black briefs. He shirt had also been pulled partly up to show what lack of muscles he owned. That was until he tried twisting his body around and ended up flexing them. Unconsicously I licked my lips. Hey, I'm a girl and he's a guy. It's perfectly normal. I think. I'm actually not too sure if it's okay when you know that the guy is taken. Eh.

I shook my head sighed. I had hoped it was loud enough for him to hear and grinned when I heard he scream, "I'm coming, I'm coming! Give me a few minutes, would ya! Gods! So demanding!"

"Well, it's not in my nature to actually want to be stuck in a hole when the person who came save me is only a few feet away." I closed my eyes and leaned my head back to the sky. The sun shined in my face and even though my eyes were closed I still squinted as a red bunny rabbit murdered a red dog behind my eye lids. Gods, I have a scary imagination. Active but scary. I swept my tongue over my lips again, feeling the little bit of blood that had once been wet now dry and cracky.

One little girl slid off of the pile and ran over to somethin. I tried to see who or what it was but I couldn't really turn around that much and she was out of my sight before I even managed to turn my head halfway. I sighed again and began to try to move my legs which were asleep. Sadly, my tries failed and I had no choice but to wait. I never did like waiting. The ADHD causes that to come to a complete hold. Only sometimes can I force myself to be patient but even those "sometimes" rarely work for long periods of time.

Then happiness emerged. Actually, it was just Nico managing to get to his feet and emerge from the pile of squealing girls. He took maybe three steps towards me but by the time he was fairly close to me, he was tackled again. From behind. So he fell on my face. Thankfully his crotch was nowhere near my face and I could still breath but there was this throbbing pain in my neck. I groaned and cried out as I had no choice but to lower my head. Nico's chest collapsed on top of my neck as more of the kids jumped on top of him, his arms longer being able to hold him up any longer. There was so much pain coursing through my body I saw splotches of red. I kept my mouth shut as I my face plummeted back into the sand, only breathing through my nose. I whimpered though I wasn't sure anyone heard it. From above I heard Nico screaming.

Slowly the weight lessened and Nico's body moved from my neck into a push up position and then he came up fully. When I first raised my head a sharp shoot of white hot flames stabbed my neck and I dropped my head back down, crying out again. The apologies of small voices filled the air and small tiny little hands matched with a pair of larger ones began to dig around me. One of Nico's arm slid down and grabbed my arm, which was limp and asleep, pulling me upwards. When he pulled me out he helped me stand but my legs, having been useless for the passed two hours, collapsed underneath me so I rolled over and laid on my back. Nico fell down besides me, chuckling to himself.

"Sorry about your neck." He slipped his hand to the back of my neck and rubbed it gently.

I smiled and laughed quietly, closing my eyes to look up. "Well, now I'll never underestimate the power of mutliple little girls with giant crushes on the same guy." I recalled how I had fallen asleep on the beach which had caused me to get into this mess. "I will also never fall asleep anywhere besides in a car and in my bed."

He laughed from beside me and we listened to the sound of shuffling feet, clattering objects and mumbles of sorry until they passed away into the breeze. After a while the pain in my neck went away, something Nico took credit for because of the coldness of his hand.

"It's so obvious. My coldness numbed the nerves on your neck so that you can longer feel the pain in it thus I am the reason that there isn't anymore pain," he insisted.

I rolled my eyes. "Sure."

Nico rolled on top of me and put his hands on either side of my face, grinning as he did so. "So now that you've gotten out of the hole, what do you want to do?"

"Not get buried again," I muttered.

I lifted one arm and pushed him back. He fell on his butt and laughed when he pushed himself upwards. He held out a hand which I grabbed and slung one arm around my shoulders to steady me. He gave a questioning gaze as my brain remembered the night before. I pushed him away and stumbled backwards. He made to come closer but I shook my finger as I felt the muslces in my legs warm up to movement. Gods, I was going to fall again. I stumbled once more, closer to him than I'd liked to have been.

He frowned. "What's wr-"

"Did you leave your cabin last night?" I asked, interrupting him and taking a step back.

"Yes and I found you and you were sleepwalking." He tried to walk to me as he spoke but I quickly adjusted myself to be opposite him and farther away. "Why?"

_Liar,' _I thought but instead said, "What happened after? What did you do?"

He used a finger to pull out his collar, a sure sign of nervousness though he put it off as being hot, and replied, "I tried to lead you back to your cabin but you tried to bite me and then proceeded to try to murder me." He rubbed the back of his neck, blushing slightly in embarassment. "I ran away after but, uh, sent Mrs. O'Leary after you to make sure you didn't sleepwalk yourself into the sea and drown."

_You are such a little liar. Just admit it,' _I thought.

"Can I ask why?" He rocked back and forth on his heels

I rolled my eyes at his pathetic excuses but decided to go with it. "I had dream and you were in it. We were making out." I waved my hand like it was nothing as Nico sort of stood there stupidly, his mouth opening and closing like a fish, no words escaping. Then he burst out laughing.

"We were," he laughed, "kissing? You and me? Really." He laughed a few more times before managing to quiet himself up. "Emily, I am so devoted to Jessica, I'm actually surprised I'm not with her right now."

Now it was my turn to blush. Huh. So maybe it was just a dream. My mom did say I was prone to sleep walking incidents when I was younger. Huh. Maybe the incidents were happening again. I rubbed my neck and shrugged as he slid an arm around my shoulders again. My hand dropped to my side. I sent him a quick peek. He was staring at in front of us. He turned to look at me, smirking when he apparently thought of something.

"Well, I'm flattered you dreamt of me and my extreme good looks. That must mean you're going to dream about our nonexistent sexual activities in the future right?" He let go of me and scrambled down the beach as I chased, screaming things in Greek and English as I did so.

"Nico di Angelo, you sick bastard!"

* * *

><p>Fast forward the time from Tuesday to Friday, about 7:00pm during the Capture The Flag game. Everything was so quiet it was hard to remember that I had on my hearing aids on. Pulling off my armor, I sighed as I slumped myself against a tree and hefted my sword. I tried to do a cool flip trick with it but that only succeeded in me going into an all out panic attack when I realized, as I threw it up, there was always a chance I could miss it catching it and accidentally cause myself to die by implaing it through my skull or something equally paranoid like that. So I dove out of the way as it was coming down and watched it clatter to the ground like the useless hunk of metal it is.<p>

I have a word of advice for anyone who cares: Never, under any circumstances, ever believe it when a person claims you are the most vial asset to a game of Capture the Flag and then sends you out to most secluded part of the forest so that you don't mess up their chances of winning even though they're telling you that this is to send all of the other team's teamates to you because naturally they would think you have the flag because they believe you are useless and don't really contribute much to the game.

Never believe that. It's a lie.

But before I knew that I did belive it and ended up in the most secluded, unused part of the forest woth nothing to do. Therefore my sword was a useless hunk of metal. I paced around, doing figure eights or tracing out the lettter A with my feet. This goes to show you how utterly boring my life was at the moment. After a while I began to run through lyrics of songs I knew as I walked around in circles. Apparently this is the sign or a delusional or crazy person. I don't know if it has been revealed that I am yet but I'm hoping I'm not. Somehow I doubt that that wish will come true considering the bouts of insanity I'm prone to.

It's times like these were I wonder if I was ever truly sane. I sighed depressedly and mumbled phrases from TV shows I liked. A soft patter of rain fell down from the sky, reflecting the world in its tiny beaded waterness. Is that even a word? Waterness? I don't think so. I moaned at my stupidity but then criticised myself for being so harsh because I was so immensely bored that jumping off a bridge sounded fun. Was it my fault that I was completely and utterly useless? I don't know. For all I know my father is completely and utterly useless and I just inherited it.

"There's no way I can lead a flipping quest if no one wants my help with anything." I stared at the sky as the steady drops suddenly turned into a vicious downpour. I just continued to sit there because, unfortunately for me, I was unaware of my surroundings, having no idea where the hell my teammates had taken me. So I was stuck. In the rain. Alone.

"This sucks," I yelled.

A crumpling sound of crushed leaves was heard but as the dark shadow of a human body dripping with water ignored me, I in turn ignored it. It was probably the result of it being night time and me being extremely paranoid of the dark. Not to say I'm afraid of the dark. It's just that I am really addicted to Supernatural and have a strange obession with looking up every monster that appears in, staring at their pictures and reading their information to make sure I know them from a human being. This is why I'm on the border of being crazy.

The crunching sound came back and I, once again, ignored it completely, only proving my knowledge of it by saying, "If you're here to save me from pneumonia, I'm right here. If you're here to eat me, go ahead. If you have no idea who the hell I am, go away."

Maybe I should've gotten up and tried to follow the thing as it fleed but as I said, I thought it was a figment of my large imagination which sadly caused me to stay stuck in the rain for about an hour before everyone finally realized I was missing. I didn't really have a tendency to talk in front of large crowds, what with the disfigurement of my voice so naturally my disappearance wouldn't have made that much of a difference but I thought someone would have come to get me after at least a few minutes of the end of the game. I sighed and dropped my head, wet hair plastering to my face. I swore and pulled my knees closer to my chest, staring through the waterfall of raindrops into the deep black space.

A pillar of light dropped in front of me followed by a small, strange shaped shadow and much larger, bulky one. Shadow, who had a metal hoop stuck around her stomach connected to a small umbrella that covered her body, pranced over to me, climbed up my leg and sniffed my face as though she was confirming that I was in fact Emily Porter. She turned her head and meowed loudly to the bulky figure which turned out to be Nico. He was dressed in at least three large raincoats.

I tried to ask him why but found that I was too cold to. He pulled my frozen figure up and draped two of the raincoats over me. Oh, that was why. He had to zip me up as the sleeves came way past my hands and then draped my arms over his neck, lifting me up so that my legs were wrapped around his waist underneth his coat. I buried my head in the crook of his neck and cried silently, not quite understanding why though. He smartly said nothing and continued to walk forward.

It surprised me when Nico took a detour to his cabin and dropped me down on a spare bed. After that he started to rummage around through one of the drawers as I shivered. He pulled out a large black t-shirt and threw it over to me. The only words out of his mouth the entire time was,"The bathroom is over there."

As I started over to the black door, I slowly realized something and turned to him. "Everyone else forgot?"

He gave me an expressional silence, the answer already in my head before I even spoke the words. I nodded and pushed open the door. It shouldn't have been a big surprise. Tons of the kids from camp disappeared randomly and showed up either drunk or sober the next day from hanging out with their mortal friends. I guess they had assumed the same for me.

The lights overhead flickered for a moment before fully shining down upon me. I pulled off the wet clothing, hearing a loud squelch as I pulled off my shirt which had stuck to me like glue the entire time. BY the time I was fully undressed Nico rapped on the door. I jumped and my wet feet slid across the smooth tile, my legs almost falling but I grabbed at the counter of the bathroom sink and pulled myself up.

"Yeah?" I called out, trying to sound like I hadn't accidentally almost killed myself.

"Give your wet clothes to me." The door opened slightly to reveal a pale hand. "I'll dry them."

I handed him my shirt and pants but not the clothes underneath. I heard his dark chuckle before he said, "Emily, that includes your bra and undies." When I muttered that I'd hold on to them he laughed. "Remember I told you about Bianca? I had seen her half naked and fully naked multiple times before she died. So your choice in underwear won't really affect me. Okay?"

He stuck his hand out again. Reluctantly I handed him the rest of my clothing, bunched up in a tight ball of dirty white and deep green. He muttered thanks and closed the door. I sighed and turned on the water to the hottest it could go and stepped in. Needless to say I won't describe my wonderful bathing as I don't know how many of you imaginary beings are perverts. Yeah. My brain acknowledges perverts and therefore wherever I disappear to in a daydream it has some form of a pervs but anyway.

I looked around the room. "Nico! There's only one towel in here!"

"Use it then!" he yelled back.

"I'm not using something you've put your body on! That's disgusting!"

"I'm pretty sure you would in your dreams!"

I screamed something way too rude to put down in words at him. He laughed and slipped the end of a small blanket under the doorway. I yanked it back, still fuming over his idiocy. I shook it and then proceeded to rub the water droplets off, muttering about how much Nico deserved to go to hell and other questionable places. I heard his laugh from outside the door and my scowl deepened as I ran the blanket through my hair. Opening the door a little bit, I used it as a sheild and stuck one of my hands out of the doorway. Nico handed me my underwear but not not the bra.

"Bra?" I asked, trying not to sounded.

"It's not dry," was the reply.

I yanked on the clothes and threaded my fingers through my wet hair, stepping out of the bathroom. I probed around my brain, looking for something to say as Nico sat in front of a small pit full of fire. Far above it was a metal rob which Nico had draped my clothing over top of. He reached out and flipped my bra flipped my bra over. Some of the water dripped into the fire. It crackled and hissed.

"Why'd you take me here? Why not my cabin?"

He sort of gave a grim smile. "Alexis doesn't like it when it rains at night. She locks the door. Her mother's boyfriend drank on rainy days and would call her a waste of space. Then when they broke up he blamed it on Alexis and stalked her for three months whenever it rained because according to Alexis, 'When it rains mostly everyone looks the same.' So she would lock the door to keep the guy out. She still does regardless. It's a habit of hers." He turned to look at me with a very serious expression. "And I respect it."

I nodded, not sure what to say. Nico picked up my shirt and flipped it over. His hand dropped and hovered over the flames, only an inch above the tallest flicker. I frowned, not sure how he was able to handle the heat. I remembered a time in which I wanted to see how it felt and barely even made if half a second without pulling my hand away. The heat was excruatatingly hot and a pit painful. I leaned a bit closer to him while I asked, "How do you handle the heat?" I looked at his face which was now stony and expressionless.

"After I found out I was a son of Hades, warmth kind of stopped." He looked at the flames. "I don't feel heat that much anymore. The fire feels warm rather than burning." He smiled lightly. "Sometimes though, when I feel really happy, I can feel normal warmth. Like body warmth." He gave a sad smile. "It's nice to know that if I wanted I could still feel it."

"But you don't want to?" I looked at the fire. Why in the world would he not want to feel body warmth.

He sighed, "No. I can't." I cocked my head to the side in confusion so he tried to elaborate on it. "Um, sometime in the 1600s, a son of Hades loved the daughter of Aphrodite. Then because she was worried if he truly loved her or if he was faking until someone better came along, she asked her mom for help. Aphrodite dressed up as an old lady and offered him as much gold as him heart desired if he killed his girlfriend." He looked at me sadly. "So he did."

He raised his head to the cieling and sighed again. "After that he went back to Aphrodite who cursed him and the rest of the sons of Hades so that they longer can feel the warmth of another person unless it's someone they will love unconditionally." He laughed a dark cruel laugh. "Sometimes we find them when we're moments from death, half the time we never find them and the other fraction of us can't even get them to like us back." He glowered at the flames which seemingly rose and danced around more violently than they had before. "I thought Jessica would change that because Aphrodite promised me on my thirteenth brithday that the girl would show up soon, that she would care for me more than Bianca did, that she would love me to death and that nothing could take her from me." He shook his head and dropped his hand completely in the fire this time. "I'm still waiting."

Trying to think of something that would possible make him feel better, I slung one arm around his neck and batted my eyes playfully. "If it helps you can try me? After all, I am supposedly having very dirty dreams about you."

He chuckled a sort of okay-I'm-going-to-laugh-because-I-know-that-was-the-best-you-could-do laugh mixed in with a haha-yeah-that-was-sort-of-funny laugh. I grinned and then wrinkled my nose.

"Uh, no offense Mr. Machosist but the smell of burning flesh is kind of making me want to puke." I pulled his arm out of the fire which he used to grab my bra and throw at my face. "Becasue throwing my bra at my face makes me love you even more," I muttered with the sound of sarcasism and a death threat hanging off of it. He laughed again as I turned away and struggled to assemble my bra underneath my shirt without having to take it off.

"I already told you. I've seen everything a girl has to offer. I had a sister remember? Bianca? I mentioned her in my sob story." I heard some shuffling behind me and the thud of clothing hit the ground. Nico slid his fingers underneath the shirt which made me jump, not because of the coldness of his hand but because he was invading personal space without a second thought. I struggled to get out but with one hand he gripped me and with the other he fixxed up the bra in the back for me. I kicked him in the leg when he left me go and huffed as I pulled the straps up over my shoulders.

"Pervert."

"Says the girl who dreamt of us canoodling."

"Says the boy who shoved his hands up my my shirt."

"Says the girl who is wearing _my_ shirt."

"Says the boy who let everyone forget about me."

"Says the girl who didn't even try to get out."

"Says the boy who can't stop insulting me for a split second without even considering that because I'm new I might not have wanted to get lost."

"Says the girl who didn't even bother memorizing her postion."

"Says the boy who will never fall in love."

That hit home. First he looked pissed then he looked upset and then he turned off the lights and dropped into a bed I could tell was far away from me. Picking up my clothes I stumbled over to him and muttered that I was sorry. He didn't answer so I muttered I was sorry agaiin and dropped down on the extra bed which convienently for Nico was at least ten feet away. I buried my head in the pillow and wondered why I seemed to mess almost everything up with the people who I tried to consider my friends. I considered suffocating myself to stop ruining people's dreams but dismissed the thought as soon as I thought of all the people that would miss me.

Snuggling into the cool bed, I soon was fast asleep.

* * *

><p>Hey people! *extremely happy voice* For those of you that like this strange story, thanks for your support! For those who don't, stop sending me evil messages! If you knew you didn't like it from the first chapter, why do continue to read it!<p>

Anyway, I don't know if this is late or not but whatever! *extremely happy voice continues without a falter* I made up the whole I can't feel heat thing for those who haven't noticed! What's your opinion?

Thanks for reading and swing by soon!

-Happykid44


	6. Chapter 6

Heh. So hey guys!

*dodges rotten tomatoes and hides behind wall* I'msosorrydon'thatemepleaseletmeexplainIha veareasonnotareallyreallygoo donebutit'sstillanexcusefornotupdating inlikeforeverpleasedon'thateme!

Okay, let me explain.

I was depressed. Not like a I'm-going-to-cut-myself-and-need-hospital-help depressed. Just lack-of-review-and-favourites depressed, but I got over it. So I'm back. Maybe I won't stay. Maybe I will. Most likely I will. Writing it made me realize how much I really missed writing this fic.

Anyway, for any Naruto fans out there, I am currently in the process of writing a Naruto multi-chapter fic. It's AU and SasuNaru. I'll reveal more for anyone who cares enough to want to know.

Oh, also, my writing may have changed so I'm sorry if it has and it sucks. Really sorry.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>I awoke to total darkness, not a sliver of light at all. For a few moments I panicked until my memory restarted and I remembered that I had spent the night at Nico's cabin. Sadly, I also remembered that Nico and I did not end the night on a good note. Despite the cool temperature in the room, my hair was sweaty as I brushed it back. I looked around, trying to see through the dark. Unfortunately, my eyes couldn't adjust which I found strange. So, instead of screaming for Nico to turn on the lights, I blindly tried to find the bathroom to relieve myself. I stumbled over something and fell into a warm and breathing, hard yet soft something.<p>

Nico's body was hidden in the shadows, but his eyes were glowing faintly. He stared at me for a moment, his head turned to look at me and his eyes were clouded by confusion, then he rolled over and tugged me closer, mumbling "Jessica" under his breath. I shifted uncomfortably and struggled to get out without waking him once again. I groaned without a sound and grabbed at his head, digging my nails into the skin covering his skull.

The world spiraled out of view and next thing I knew everything was gone.

- _Nico's Dream -_

I was standing inside an apartment building and I heard shuffling coming down the hallway. I froze up, unable to move, but whoever it was walked right through me. I looked around in confusion but could only see the back of the person's head. The person knocked rapidly on a door, dropping their fist to their side. Nico's head poked out of the doorway and I saw a smile emerge on his lips.

"Hey."

The person laughed quietly, a soft melodious laugh that told me it was a girl. "Hi."

Nico grinned and they stood there smiling at one another before Nico seemed remembered something. He smacked his forehead and laughed," Sorry. Come on in."

The girl stepped in and removed her jacket, shaking out her black hair and messing it up a bit. I quickly slid in, the door phasing through me. The girl turned around, but before I could see his dream girl Nico stepped in front of me. Apparently even in his dreams he still manages to piss me off.

"Coffee? Tea? Milk? Water? Lemonade?" he questioned, walking over to the refrigerator and opening the door. He raised his head. "Hot chocolate?"

The girl turned back around to face Nico and the only thing I saw of her face was her blue eyes. "That sounds nice."

She walked over to the window and peered out as Nico busied himself with the hot chocolate. He looked genuinely like he was struggling to compose himself in a calm way. Without turning around, she called out to Nico to calm down, laughing as she did so. Nico's body visibly relaxed and he poured more the necessary amount of whipped cream on top of them, dropping a large marshmallow in each. She took the hot chocolate without turning again. He leaned over and kissed her cheek before staring out of the window with her.

She turned to face Nico.

_- End of Nico's Dream -_

My vision was slightly fuzzy as the human world came back. I could just make out that Nico's body was raised above mine. When my sight cleared I could see that he was unhappy. His fingers were curled around my wrists, nails dug in deep. My legs were trapped between his own, his knees squeezing hard against their sides and I felt terror. I wanted to run so badly.

_Perhaps explaining that I needed to use the bathroom will help, _I thought. _Maybe if I tell him I couldn't see the door and I accidentally fell into him will help. I doubt it though. Shut up, Emily, and stick to the plan._

"I needed to find the bathroom," I squeaked. "I couldn't see the door. I tripped. I'm sorry."

My thoughts were right. Nico still didn't let me go. Instead his hands gripped my wrists tighter and I felt a trickle of blood drip from where his nails were dug into my skin. He snarled at me and raised one hand, readying into a fist. I considering trying to knee him but found my pants caught by his knees. Shit.

"You have ten seconds to tell me why you were in my head," he hissed. " . .Five. Si-"

"I don't know," I protested. "I don't even know how I got there."

He didn't accept it, didn't leave it alone and kept on counting. His fist fell to my face. I was screaming inside my head, desperately trying to figure a way out of this. Before the fist even made contact with my face though, my free hand shot up and shoved it backwards. He flew off of the bed and into the wall twenty feet in front of us. I think that when I was too busy freaking out to notice what I had done. I wrapped my arms around my knees, pulling them towards my chest, and started rocking back and forth repeatedly, whimpering the same words over again, and tears were running down my cheeks in fit of mass hysteria.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to look. I didn't mean it," I whimpered as Nico pulled himself up. "I'm sorry. Don't hate me. Please. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to look. I didn't mean it."

He walked towards me and squatted to my height. I felt his fingers run through my hair lightly, brushing stray strands back. He pulled my chin up and looked me in the eye. "It's okay. I'm not used to people seeing inside my head. It was, um, sort of, a shock."

I nodded in understanding, glad that I wasn't in agonizing pain. He clapped his hands and the lights flickered on. I walked into the bathroom and plopped down on the toilet. I closed my eyes and inhaled a few times before I felt a furry paw tap my knee. Shadow was looking at me, her bright yellow eyes staring at me in confusion. She licked my nose and then proceeded to lick up the trails my tears had left. I smiled and ran one finger down her back. She wasn't fazed, still licking me as though her life depended on it. For that I felt happy. She was going to be a great mother. Only if Nico doesn't get her spayed of course.

I flushed and washed my hands a few times as Shadow followed me around the small space. Nico opened the door, clad in only his underwear. I blushed and looked down but Nico didn't really seem to care. In fact he laughed at my shyness and actually hugged. I couldn't help but squeal in fright and awkwardness. Shadow just looked at us liking she was thinking "Man, you guys are weird. Make kids already." She strolled out her tail high and turned her head in my direction giving me the same look again. I told Nico what I believed she was thinking.

"You sure do love me. Too bad I don't feel the same way." He pushed me out of the doorway quickly as I tried to attack him.

"You asshole!" I screeched.

* * *

><p>Shane was holding both Michael and Angel in his arms. Nico was in front of him, lecturing Shadow.<p>

"So you're going to be nice to Uncle Shane, right?" Nico asked, talking weirdly and creepily. Shane stared at him as much as a blind guy can. "Good girl. Now, remember, Uncle Shane doesn't like kitties, so you have to be extra, extra nice to please him, okay?"

When Shadow gave some sort of acknowledgement to Nico, he grinned and handed her off to Shane, who looked annoyed. Alexis stood next to me, staring at Nico who had snatched Shadow back to cuddle with her some more before we left. It was all very, very, very, very weird. Actually, add on another very. Kind of creepy disturbing. A person like Nico just doesn't seem like the type to baby a cat, much less a kitten, like that. Weird.

Jessica was slumped against the car, watching me with rapt attention. I briefly gave her the finger, simply because she was annoying me and I also kind of wanted to show her I wasn't intimidated. I don't know why but I think she knows something about Nico's "Can't Love But One" deal. If she does, why would she think it's me? I mean, I'm indecisive. But if Nico does like me, I think I'd force myself to like him back. I wouldn't want him to be alone and miserable. I like to think I'm nice like that.

No, I'm really just a sad, lonely, miserable girl who will never be happy in life.

Hah! I'm such a liar. But really. I do like to believe I could make myself like Nico. I'd find key points of goodness in his personality and looks. Then I'd drink a bunch of 'FALL IN LOVE' potions and fall in love with him so he's not alone and miserable and wasting the key points of goodness in his personality and looks.

Anyway, Jessica glared at me harder but turned her head when Nico started jogging up to her. She smiled. It was scary. And white. Really, really white. Like almost blindingly white. I wonder if that was natural, you know with her being a child of Aphrodite and all. but now that I knew he didn't like her, I could easily see the resentment in his body. It was funny because she threw her arms around him and smothered him in kisses. I wondered how he felt. If he forced himself to enjoy her company, simply for the purpose that he may never find that one person. I'd at least go for someone a bit more bearable.

But, hey, his life, his choices. I have no need nor do I care to tell him any better.

Alexis squeezed me once, her hug breathtakingly tight. I winced and rubbed my arm once she pulled away and gave me a small but forceful poke to the had little tears glistening in her eyes. "Don't die," she whispered. "If you do, I'll, I'll... do something worse to your corpse!"

After that she threw her arms around me and pressed her body into mine. I finally realized how much smaller than me she was. So small and skinny. I patted her head. I wanted to promise her that I wouldn't but I'd only been in training for a week. I doubted I'd last long if we were attacked by a lot of monsters. I doubted it a lot. But I didn't tell her that.

"I... I'll try not to." Not exactly a promise but it would do.

She nodded and pulled away, rubbing the tears away from her eyes. She sniffled once and then broke out into a large grin, giving me a thumbs up. "Good luck!" Then she grabbed Shane and they both left to go back to our cabin. I shrank back a little, realizing how dangerous this would be. As I passed Chiron by, I handed him a small letter addressed to my mom. He nodded in understanding and then looked around us. Everyone else was piled up into the van. Chiron sighed.

"Don't assume the worst," he said, looking down at me. "It will only lead to bad things."

I shrugged. "I assume the worst in case it happens so I don't feel that I've left something out."

He just chuckled and watched my back as I descended down the hill and into the van. Charles was driving, Benjamin was sitting next to him, glaring out the window.

Charles didn't look too happy either. I wonder what they were fighting about now. We got to keep the van only because they're were so many of us and Chiron figured it'd be easier to transport ourselves around. I think he was worried about the strain Shadow-Travelling put on Nico's body. To be honest, I worried about it too. I also did not like the feeling. I'd been through it once before, when a misguided arrow was sailing straight for me and Nico tackled me out of the way, accidentally rolling us both into a shadow and taking us to an empty alleyway next to a McDonald's. We had lunch. I took the bus back. Nico followed obediently, apologizing the whole way. Thankfully no monster attacks, which naturally made me more nervous.

I hopped in and sat down next to Alice, who was lazily circling her belly button. To protect her boyfriend from Alice's display of skin, Jessica was sitting on Nico's lap, whispering things I'd rather not think about into his ear. When I appeared beside her, Alice's eyes snapped open and suddenly she was up on her feet, causing me to jump back in surprise. She struck her finger out and yelled, "ONWARDS CHARLIE BOY!"

I winced at the volume of her voice, as did Charles who mumbled, "Don't call me Charlie Boy."

The floor vibrated and we moved slowly down the grassy hill and away from Camp, a home to my friends and a place I belonged. It was weird. I had a feeling I wouldn't see them for a very long time.

* * *

><p>I had settled into a deep sleep once we got out of New York and onto some highway. Nico had taken a nap earlier, stretching his body and telling us he'd drive once it got dark since his eyesight in the dark was better than the rest of ours. He sounded kind of smug so I kicked his leg and he just sent me a flirtatious grin before slipping into dreamland. Just to prove how pissed I was with him, I plagued his mind with gay porn. Several seconds into it I was questioned about it by Ben.<p>

"Gay porn," was my one and only answer.

Charles had snorted. "Nico's borderline bisexual. Stuff like that doesn't bother him."

I removed my hand from Nico's head, my mood completely soured as I told Charles to go to Hell and thought about what I could do to annoy Nico in his dreams while everybody thought about where we should go.

It was dark when I did fall asleep because we were attacked by multiple monsters. Alice blamed Nico because he was the son of Hades and she felt monsters had a personally grudge against his father because monsters got trapped in Tartarus, which was in the Underworld, which was where Hades lived, who happened to be Nico's dad, so, yeah. Alice blamed Nico. I figured that her argument made a lot of sense and agreed with her. Charles went against us, as did Jessica. Benjamin and Nico smartly stayed out of the argument as Alice and I rivaled against Charles and Jessica. They were so going down.

Before I feel asleep though, I had a small conversation with Nico. Jessica was asleep, curled up into Nico's jacket. Charles had pulled Ben down into back with him when he and Nico switched places. Whatever they were mad each other over seemed to be resolved as I watched them cuddle up to one another, breathing evenly paced as they dreamed. I had gone up in the front and Alice moved so she could be closer to me. She had fallen asleep soon after though so we didn't talk much.

I looked at Nico whose eyes were trained on the road. "What do you remember about your past?"

He blinked and looked at me, surprised. "Why?"

"Just curious."

Drumming his fingers against the steering wheel, he shrugged. "Not much."

"Just tell me," I insisted, leaning closer to him, trying to keep my voice low as to not wake up the others.

Nico glowered at me from the corner of his eyes. His body tensed up. Defense, I noted. I did the same. We sat in silence, him, refusing to acknowledge my presence and me, watching him intently. I was about to stopped when his body slumped. "Why does it matter?"

I sighed, "Because I want to know what to look for when you dream."

He slammed on the brakes and looked at me incredulously. "WHAT?!"

I smacked his arm. "Shut up!" Rolling myself back, I shrugged. "I thought it would be a nice thing to do." I looked at him, a soft smirk on my face. "Since your life sucks so much."

He laughed sarcastically, rolling his eyes, half amused. Then he started driving again, thinking. Soon, he ran his hand through his hair. "What I remember is vague so I'm not even sure if they're actual memories or stuff I made up before Bianca died. I remember a man used to come visit us a lot. I think he was my dad but he looked a lot younger so I'm not sure. I remember that this was the guy who brought us presents each visit. He'd give Bianca dolls and me the teddy bears. I used to put them all over my shelves. Eventually I wanted to collect them. I think there was a story behind each one but I don't remember it or even if there really was. When I was five I made friends with two boys. Demigods, I think. And I think they knew who I was."

"What did they look like?" I asked, imagining an empty canvas in which I'd paint the faces of Nico's friends.

"One had blue hair. I think it was natural but it was blue so I'm probably kidding myself. He was taller than the other boy but smaller than I was. He was really energetic, loved to pose and be the center of attention." Nico's breathing was growing harsher and his voice was speeding up with every word. "He was really exuberant and nice. Funny sometimes the other kid, he, he, he-" Nico buried his head between his arms, eyes wide. His body was shaking so I reached out to touch him.

He relaxed slightly under my touch and looked after a while, the car moving slowly again. There was pain in his eyes. "It stops there."

I stared at him for a moment, unsure of what to say, so I just turned and nodded, saying nothing. The air grew thick as we continued down the highway. We had all agreed just to drive and question any blind person we came across. We had even questioned Shane before we left. He had just told us to drive, sharing a weird look with Charles. I had put it into the back of my mind, thinking I was just imagining things.

Soon Nico pulled over and went to sleep. I followed his example, trying to imagine the blue headed boy as I grabbed my pale friend's hands, and that was the end of our small conversation.

**- Dream -**

A man was standing in front of me. His face was blurry and his voice was weird as he spoke. I didn't recognize it or him.

"Emily," he whispered, raspy. "Come Emily."

The dark room spun until I was standing outside of a cave. "We are here Emily. Come home."

The outside shifted and a Canada border patrol guy was in front of me. "We'll kill him for you, Emily." Multiple voices joined in. "We'll tear him apart, to shred and feast on his flesh as we wait."

The man was back in front of me. He held out a hand. "Don't disappoint me, Emily."

**- Scene Change -**

A black haired boy stood in front of me. His eyes were unmoving, almost dead. He raised a black sword and his head tilted. "Who are you?"

I blinked. He could see me? I panicked. Oh gods, no. I am going to die in a dream. I thought I'd die in a cooler way. I thought it would be in a monster attack. Or I would sacrifice myself so my friends and Jessica could live. Oh, this was so unfair!

A voice broke me out of my mental babbling. "I am no one. I am a forgotten child."

I turned around. A blue haired boy stood there, clothes in shreds and rags. He tilted his head, mirroring the black haired boy behind me. _Nico._ I realized that and stopped panicking, backing into a wall so I could watch the exchange. Nico dropped his sword and glowered at the boy. "What is your name?"

"My name? I have two names. One given to me by a woman I hate and another I took on my own, one I prefer but no one will call me it." He looked at Nico, an innocence spreading through his eyes. "Will you call me it?"

A smug smile fell on to Nico's small face. "Of course." He bowed, mockingly, keeping his head up and both eyes on the boy. "Mr. Fish."

The boy's eyes widened and he took a step back, pulling out a blue sword, one that matched his hair. So now I had a name (well the kid's preferred name anyway) to match with the face and I could confirm to Nico that one friend, at least, was a demigod. Just whose son though, was the only important question that watched their exchange. Neither moved as I remembered that as a child Nico said he had never been to camp, something his father and Chiron had confirmed. So who had taught him how to use a sword?

Nico pulled himself up, sheathed his sword and rolled his eyes. "You're not fun at all. Don't you know it's not good manners to attack first when your opponent is down."

Fish (who would name themselves that?!) rolled his shoulders back, eyes darkened. He raised his sword and I caught sight of a bracelet around his wrist, one I hadn't seen on any camper before. Wait a minute. I had seen a bracelet like that. In Nico's bathroom. I just never noticed it. It was inside the mirror-cabinet and I thought it was keepsake of Bianca's so I never asked about it. Had Hades given it to Nico, knowing that it was this boy's and knowing that the boy was Nico's friend? Maybe that's how Nico's first memory came back, how he remembered this one boy.

I blinked when I heard an enraged yell, coming out of my thoughts. Fish was running towards Nico, who just stood there, arms out in amused grin. Natural, self-sacrificing instincts kicked in and I dove in front of Nico. The sword passed through me but something else, something solid in this dream, this memory, stopped it before it even came close to Nico's head.

Another boy was holding the sword away from Nico and above his own head. It was dark and I couldn't make out anything other than his hair being brown. His voice was quiet.

"Please, don't hurt Nico, Daniel." The boy looked up but I still couldn't make out his face. "He's my friend. My best friend."

"Fine," Fish snapped. He pulled his sword away from the other boy, the unnamed boy, and quickly jerked it at Nico. "But if he annoys me like that again, I'm killing him."

I relaxed and stepped out the way. I was ready to stop this, not really interested in the rest of Nico's past. It was pretty violent so far for a five year old.

Nico laughed, stopping me. A chill ran down my back as he spoke his next words.

"Why would you kill your master, Mr. Fish? After all, someone has to keep you in line."

**- End of Dream -**

I woke up with a gasp. A cold breeze washed over me and I became aware of where I was. Outside, my hands firmly planted on the back of the van. Had I been pushing it? Ridiculous. I just sleep-walked out and that was that. I looked around, pulling my jacket tighter around me. It was really cold. Where were we anyway? I didn't recognize it. My breath came out in white clouds of air. I frowned. Was I still dreaming? Last I remembered we were passing through North Carolina, eight hours before. What were we doing so far up north. My dream with the Canadian border guy snapped back. I shook my head. Me pushing the van over three hundred miles for was ridiculous. It was still dark out. If I had pushed it, it would be day time and we probably wouldn't have even gotten that far anyway. If I had driven it still would be day time since the drive is over six hours. I would know. My mom wanted to take a road trip to Canada one summer and I looked up how long it would take. Like most things, the idea was trashed and we ended up just flying out to Canada.

But just as the idea of me pushing the van was ridiculous, the idea of me driving was equally ridiculous. First of all, I was a pretty bad driver. I was slow and panicky which is why I walk, take the bus or have other people drive me places. Second, who sleep drives in the first place? And third, someone would have been bound to wake up to convince whoever was driving to go to sleep.

I shook my head and didn't bother consulting my watch, kind of afraid of what I'd find. I stepped back and started walking to the front of the van to get in and go back to sleep when I jumped back. A man, not the guy from the dream, but someone else entirely was on the ground. Blood covered his shirt. I resisted the urge to puke and stepped around him. I peeked inside. Everyone was still asleep so I looked for a way to move the body. I didn't really trust that I hadn't done it. I didn't trust that at all.

It wasn't easy but I managed to drag him all the way to other side of road where I stashed him behind a wall that separated the two lanes. I used my jacket to stop the bleeding so it wouldn't drip as I pulled him along. Then I searched the van and lit it on fire. After that I got inside the front seat, buckled myself in and settled back.

"So you're a murderer, huh?"

I jumped and turned to face the boy next to me. I didn't recognize him. He was kind of transparent, like a ghost. I rubbed my eyes. The boy came into view better, not transparent anymore. He laughed at me and leaned back, hands shoved deep into orange pockets.

"I wasn't like Ben-Ben. My poor baby." The boy shrugged. "But then again I guess that a good thing since-" He stopped and smirked. "Oh. He's awake. Guess I gotta go. We'll talk about the killing thing later. Bye!"

Then he ran off. I started to open the door to follow the kid when I heard a ruffling from behind me. I peered behind my seat and saw Charles rise, slowly sliding Benjamin of off him. He saw me peeking and groaned, rubbing his face.

"Did I wake you?" he whispered.

I shook my head and leaned back into my seat. "We should keep driving but go south. I think Nico was driving in the wrong direction."

He nodded and stepped carefully over everyone. I helped him move Nico who must have been a really deep sleeper because he never woke up. Just rolled around a bit, mumbling, "Jessica. Jessica." Even when he sleeps he fakes it. The boy's a miracle.

Charles climbed back into the front. I followed, settling back into my seat. I watched a few pinks spread over the horizon and drifted back to sleep.

This time I had no dreams. And I was really thankful for that.

* * *

><p>Waking up to the smell of pancakes, I opened my eyes. I checked my watch. It was one thirty-seven. I groaned. I slept for a long time. I blinked a few times, Benjamin's face coming into view. He was holding a plate with three pancakes stacked on top of one another, covered in syrup and butter. I grinned my thanks and took them. Benjamin also handed me my hearing aids which I put on like a good girl. He grinned and walked over to Nico, throwing himself over his friend's lap. Jessica was up front with Alice who was driving and singing along to the radio. I laughed when her voice broke at a high part.<p>

I glanced around me and found Charles at my feet, curled up like a dog. He looked at me, annoyed and then and Nico, still annoyed. I heard him mumbled something along the lines of "Ben's mine, assholes" as he stumbled to his feet and snatched Ben to his lap. Ben slapped him and crawled back over to Nico's lap, glowering at Charles.

"I see Benjamin's not interested in possessive people," I stated.

I noticed Ben stiffening a little and Charles shrugged. "It's a take-or-leave-it situation. Benji took it."

I looked over at Ben only to see him mouth something. Now reading lips is hard, even for most deaf people. As a deaf person I can only read maybe 60 to 75 percent of what a person says unless they speak fast. I think Ben said "Only against my will" or he said "Only pickles with dill". I don't think the first one is true and I don't understand the second one but... whatever. None of my business. Probably didn't read it right anyway.

I munched on pancakes happily when Nico pointed out something.

"Where's your jacket?" he questioned, frowning.

"Uh, I, um, well, you see," I started. Think, think, think! "I saw this kid and he didn't have a jacket and it was so cold outside and I was in the van where it was warm so I thought why not and gave him my jacket and he said thank you and ran away." I rubbed my neck. "Yup, that's what happened! So don't worry about, Nicky, my friend. It's nothing!"

He stared at me for a long time before replying, "You're very weird, Emily."

Jessica smirked from the mirror. Alice kept singing. Ben laughed. Charles looked at Nico. "You're just figuring this out now?"

I kicked his leg. He swore and then yelled "REVENGE!" thus starting a mini-fight where I learned Charles was completely fine with beating up girls. Benjamin and Nico had to hold him back and Benjamin sat with him the rest of the ride. Alice turned the wheel over to Jessica so she could apply some bruise cream to my face. Nico sighed.

"Why can't you control your temper?" he complained. "It's beginning to annoy me."

That's when I remembered the way he had acted when he met the Fish kid. I smiled lightly. I wondered if he ever noticed that change in himself.

Charles just hissed and pulled Benjamin closer to him, nipping on a small part of his neck. I watched him and remembered what I had seen in the dream with him in it. But I didn't question him. Chiron or Mr. D. or any of the gods would've killed him by now had he been a threat to other demigods so that had to mean he was okay.

Right?

I put it in the back of my mind, assuring myself that since the same thing happened to me and Shane and we were both fine, Charles had to be fine. I relaxed and finished my pancakes, letting out a low burp that made everyone - except Jessica - laugh. Once everyone was busy getting into their own conversation I cracked my neck and postponed my drawing of everyone to plop down next to Nico. He looked at me and saw the bright look on my face and automatically brightened up a bit too.

"It worked!" I whispered.

He smiled. "What about them?"

"Well, I only know the blue haired kid's name. It's Daniel but he prefers Fish. And - stop looking like that or I'm gonna punch you in the face," I snapped when his face suddenly soured at the mention of "Daniel".

He grumbled in Italian and I ignored him. "Well, like I said, he prefers Fish and from what I've seen so far you're a pretty cocky five year old. Almost like you're not one at all, but whatever. Oh and he is a demigod. Now the other kid, well he's got brown hair but it was dark so I couldn't see his face. But I think he was a demigod too because he managed to catch the sword Fish was trying to kill you with and-"

I got cut off when Nico gave a quiet chuckle. "What?"

"Nothing. It just reminded me of what Percy told me once about when we met. He wanted to kill me because I was annoying and asking him to many irritating questions. It only figures this kid would try to kill me too."

I smiled. "Maybe he was the son of Poseidon as well."

"Hmm." Nico looked over at Charles. "Well I do seem to be befriending them easily." He stroked his non-existent beard. I rolled my eyes.

"Anyway, that's all I know."

"That's okay. Knowing one's name is better than not knowing any of them." He smiled and ruffled up my hair before the van skidded to a stop, throwing me on top of him and both of us sailing into Charles and Ben.

"Ow."

"Someone's foot is in my face."

"I'm small. You're crushing me. Get off!

"AGHH!"

I had my foot and weight removed from Nico and Ben respectively and felt myself getting chucked to the other side of the room. Charles looked at me annoyed and then went on to checking if Ben was okay. Ben yelled at him for throwing me and then they got into an argument while Nico stumbled to the door to check what was going on. Alice and Jessica had already removed themselves from the van.

A fire ball was flying towards the door. Nico slammed it shut. I blinked.

"Monster?" I asked even though the answer was plainly obvious and in my face.

Hey, cut me some slack. I was just thrown across a very small amount of space and hit my head really, really hard. My brain's not functioning properly. Let me be stupid all I want.

Nico nodded and unsheathed his sword. I managed to get to my feet, swaying and stumbling as I unsheathed my sword and headed to the door. Nico jumped out and quickly avoided a fire ball sent by the hydra. I, oh so awesomely, stepped out, thought about what a pretty painting the hydra would make and then proceeded to fall on my face knocked myself out.

I. Am. So. Amazing. Bask in my wonderfulness.

* * *

><p>The darkness lifted and I was awake again. I rubbed my eyes and looked around me. When I looked in front of me, I nearly screamed. Charles's sword was pointed at my face. Nico was leaning against the van, head tilted and a frown on his face. Alice was crouched down by his feet. Ben was holding Charles's arm, stopping him from impaling me completely. Jessica just look smug but there was a hidden fear behind her eyes. I mentally shook my head. I had to focus on the situation at hand. Which was avoiding death by sword.<p>

"Alice, considering you're my friend, could you by any chance tell me what's going on?" I asked as sweetly as I could, eyes focused on the sword.

Alice stood up. "Well, first you feel down and passed out. Then you got up and started acting weird, saying "I'll protect you, I'll protect you" over and over again. After that you went nuts on all the hydras. Then you turned on us. Then you started freaking out which was creepy. You began to yell that we were all dead people, and that the world was going to end at the hands of weak people. Then you started trying to kill Ben. Then Charlie here-" She clapped Charles's shoulder and smiled. "-got all protective and started beating the living crap out of you. So I healed you up when we got him to calm down." She tapped her chin, and then brightened up when she remembered more. "Oh yeah! Then you strangled me, and after Nico pulled you off, you touch his head and he froze up. Then you went back for Ben and Charlie really beat the living crap out of you then, and I had to heal you again, but I couldn't use a lot, soI was scared you'd die, so Nico used his shadows for bandages and Jessica used her lipstick to draw an arrow on your neck for Charlie to aim for in case you get all weird again."

She grinned at me. "And that just about sums it up!" She clapped her hands as I stared at her in horror. She stopped and frowned. "What?"

I began spluttering, not understanding the situation at hand anymore. I stood up quickly and Charles's sword became friendly with my throat but I wasn't paying attention to it. "I tried to kill you. I tried to kill Ben! WHAT?!"

Alice sighed. "Emmie, listen the first time around. Yes, you tried to kill me and Benny Boy." Ben muttered something about her being obsessed with adding Boy onto every nickname she had for a male. Alice ignored him. "Now, we'd all like to know why."

Jessica snorted, "Just kill her and get it over with. That way she can't psych out on us again."

Ben shook his head. "Jess, I'm sure it's probably just those bad spirits Nico sent away. Some ex-murderers milling about and forcing people to kill their comrades."

Nico didn't say anything. He just pursed his lips and slouched a bit more, not meeting my eyes.

"Nico," I whispered. "What did I do to you?"

He looked away and Jessica snarled at me. "He won't talk about it which makes me more sure you're working for the enemy."

I hurt Nico so much he wouldn't talk about it. I tried to go back to try and remember but all I saw was dark. I dropped back to the ground and stared at the asphalt below me.

The darkness hadn't lifted away. I was still dreaming and the thing was, I didn't like this dream.

* * *

><p>They kept me tied up in the back of the van. Jessica wanted me dead at first, but Ben and Alice protested. I had agreed with her though and opened my arms up, telling Charles to do it and do it quickly because I wasn't into pain. Nico then grabbed Charles's sword, threw it away and tied me up with his shadows. After that he had put me into the van and sat down next to me, not saying anything. The others went along with his idea, Charles and Jessica reluctantly.<p>

So for eight hours, I stayed tied up into the back of the van. While everybody else went and looked for blind people and ate food, I admired the carpeting of the van and thought about my life. I didn't try sleep. I was afraid of sleep. My dad was the god of dreams but I didn't trust him anymore. I didn't trust me anymore. So I didn't sleep,and swore not to at all.

I contemplated on the prophecy, what each word meant. Find a blind guy with old eyes. What in the name of Nico's daddy's underwear was that supposed to mean? I mean, we guessed it just meant a blind old guy so Chiron gave us a list of all the old folks homes that had blind people in it. But clearly that wasn't working. I frowned and closed my eyes and fell back against the wall.

A blind guy with old eyes? I groaned, closed my eyes, put my head back and thought of camp. I thought of the strawberries, the Golden Fleece which I still called the gold sweater, Chiron, Alexis, Shane, Percy and Annabeth and their lovey-dovey relationship, and Annabeth's story about how blind Percy had been to her liking him and-

WAIT A MINUTE!

I shot up, scaring Ben who had decided to stay back to watch me. Blind didn't necessarily mean literally blind. Sometimes it just meant that the person was oblivious. So the line could mean an old man who was oblivious or it meant that the guy was blind and oblivious. I started jumping up and down on my butt in excitement. I knew someone like that. When I met him he was seventy-something so he had to be around eighty now. Hopefully he wasn't dead. Nico opened the door and looked at me in surprise while Ben picked up a discarded baseball bat. I squeaked behind my shadow-gag and pinned myself to the wall. That baseball bat and me were not friends at all.

Nico climbed in and pulled the gag out, handing Ben a McDonald's take-out bag. "What?"

"I know where to look," I replied. "But you have to let me go."

Both boys looked at me suspiciously. "How do we know you won't run away?" Nico questioned.

"Hold my hand. You can keep a shadow attached on my wrist. If I run, then you can yank me back. Like a collar." I watched them looked between each other. Ben sighed.

"A shadow isn't necessary. Give me two minutes." Then he disappeared out of the van. I heard some creaking sounds and he came back two minutes later with a metal bracelet that had a red glow on it. "It's a Tracker," he mumbled. "I used to build them for my cats." He looked at me. "You run and it'll electrocute you. If you manage to get past the electrocution, it'll locate where you are. Best part? You can't get it off without me so here you go."

Nico undid the binds around my wrist and Ben slapped it on. It locked tight around my wrist and then relaxed. I stared at Ben. Nico stared at Ben. Ben stared at us and then poked Nico on the head. "Let's go."

So we went, leaving behind a small note saying that I knew where to go and they were with me. It took me a few seconds the refresh my memory but when I did I closed my eyes and trapped myself between both boys and Nico shadow-travelled us back to neighborhood in New York. I wandered around until I came up to a small house. I tapped on the door, Nico and Ben at my side.

A woman opened the door. Her nametag read Joan. "May I help you?" Her voice was clear and clipped but toned in a way that said "Go away little children. You're not welcome here."

I sighed and then called out, "Marcus, I like June better. Not as rude." then I marched past Joan and into the house.

Marcus was in his rocking chair, rocking back in forth, staring at the TV. It wasn't on. He reached out for my hand and smiled when I grasped it. "Emily," he rasped. "I haven't seen you in so long."

"It's only been a month, Marcus," I chided, rolling my eyes.

Nico and Ben stood awkwardly in the doorway of the living room. Joan ran up and stood next to them, a clipboard at her chest.

"A month is a very long time away from my Emily," he laughed. "My precious little girl."

Marcus was a man I met when my mother decided to donate some blood to the hospital since she's AB Negative and that's a rare blood type. He had stroke earlier in the week and had escaped from the room they put him in while his doctor was out getting his pills. I remembered how fragile he looked, the skin barely hanging on to his bones and went over to help him when he dropped a piece of paper.

He had a daughter named Emily who died of meningitis when she was seven. I remember telling him I had the same illness. After that he dubbed me in unofficial granddaughter since Emily would have been the same age as my mother and I visited him as often as I could. Then he was moved back to his home and was given a caretaker to help him about. He lost his sight in World War Two and told me he had been best friends with a fellow soldier for ten years before he realized that the soldier had a crush on him. He told me even with his sight he was blind, had never been able to see what was right there unless someone told him. And sometimes even then he still didn't see.

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Sorry, Marcus. I'll try coming here more often." I lowered my voice to a whisper. "Where do we go, Marcus?"

He frowned and carefully pulled his hand away from me. I let him. He waved Joan over and said, "Can you get me some milk? And rent a DVD for my friend here." He patted my head. Joan glowered at me but still asked me what I wanted. I told her The Breakfast Club was good.

She handed Marcus his glass of milk and then left to go get the DVD. When her car had pulled out of the driveway, Marcus slumped and sighed, running a hand through his wisps of hair. "I'll tell you when your friends are here." He pointed to Nico. "Drink some of the green goo in my fridge. It'll help you not get tired."

"Um, heh, that's okay, Mr. Jones," Nico said. "I'm fine."

Marcus closed his pale eyes and shook his head. "Nico, you were a fine boy when you were young. Always listened to me. I know you don't remember much but please, go."

Nico stood there, mouth open in shock, for three minutes before he left to go get the green goo. I had drunk the green goo before. It's actually quite tasty, kind of heavy like honey and molasses. It did help when you were going to do something that would get you tired. I didn't doubt Marcus when he said he knew who Nico was. Marcus had been born and lived in Washington until 1972 when he moved to New York with his second wife and their adopted son. Three years later they died in a car crash and Marcus was alone again. His first wife had died giving birth to Emily.

It was things like that, that pulled me to the old man. I was curious about his past, and we used to spend hours some days refreshing his memory, trying to figure out where the bad luck started. Nico came back with the goo. Marcus dumped his milk into his ficus, which was dying anyway. I snickered when I remembered the time he thought plants could actually live on milk.

"But plants don't have bones for the milk to absorb," I said.

He sat there and blinked. "Wait what?"

He stuck his tongue out at my laughing and then poured the green goo into his cup. He patted Nico's hand. "Drink up, then go get those friends of yours."

"Okay," Nico mumbled, looking at the goo suspiciously.

Marcus grinned, thinking Nico had already drunk it. "It's delicious isn't used to drink it. Lived-"

"A thousand years," I finished, smiling.

"Cool," Ben said, nodding and nudging Nico in the ribs.

Nico wrinkled his face up and then held his breath, swallowing the entire thing down. Okay, I lied when I said it tasted good. I was just afraid Nico might have developed mind-reading powers and would hear in my thoughts that it was most nasty stuff on Earth. Marcus was used to drinking it over and over again, every day since the day he was born so to him it was okay.

Nico coughed and spluttered. Ben and I had to force him to drink the rest of it while Marcus rocked back and forth oblivious.

Nico moaned and threw down the cup when we let him go. "OH GOD! THAT WAS DISGUSTING!" He clutched his stomach and fell to his knees, doubling over and moaning. I rubbed the back of my neck.

"Heh, well, it's pretty gross unless you drink it a lot," I agreed.

He looked at me pissed. "YOU COULDN'T HAVE TOLD ME THAT BEFORE I DRANK THAT CRAP OF PISS?!"

I frowned. "Crap of piss?" A pale hand was headed in my direction. I screamed and ducked out of the way. Nico fell into a shadow and disappeared. A few minutes later a car drove up into the driveway. I peeked. It was a Delphi Strawberry Service van. I relaxed and turned around. Marcus was smiling and pouring more goo into the cup when Ben handed it back to him after picking it up from the ground.

When Nico marched in, still annoyed and glaring at me, Marcus handed Nico the cup and patted his, uh, "hand" and said, "Drink up!" Then he frowned and patted Nico's "hand" again. "This is his hand, right Emily?"

"No," I said, shaking my head. "It's not."

"Then what is it?" he mumbled, patting around some more.

Nico shuddered and walked over to Jessica, holding the cup. "An old man felt me up," he kept mumbling. "An old man felt me up."

Yeah, there are times when I really feel sorry for Nico. Charles kept back and refused to enter the living room, watching Marcus's every move from a distance like a hawk. I stared at him. What was wrong with him? Alice was okay with Marcus since I babbled to her about him when I first met him. She always wanted to meet him but had never found time.

"Hello, Mr. Marcus!" she chirped, enthusiastically.

Marcus grinned. "Emily, you never told me your friend was so pretty." He was holding a piece of her hair in his palm, stroking it back and forth.

"Oh, you naughty boy, you," Alice giggled.

Jessica rolled her eyes. "He's blind," she muttered. "So don't believe what he says."

Alice's eyes darkened but her voice kept a sweet tone. "And you shouldn't believe it when people tell you they love you. After all most people prefer you for your body." She smirked. "And there isn't much there anyway."

Jessica lunged but Nico and Charles grabbed her and pulled her back.

"Well," Marcus began, clapping his hands. "Drink up, Mr. Di Angelo and then I'll tell you what you want to know."

We all looked at Nico, expectantly. He looked at the goo and then back at Marcus. "I have to drink it again?"

"Want to keep your strength up?"

Nico looked back at the goo, swallowed regrettably and drank the whole thing in one go. He dropped the cup again, choking and spluttering. He looked at me accusingly. "IT'S WORSE THE SECOND TIME!"

"Yeah, well, if I told you that you never would have drank it, would ya?" I said.

Nico decided to go for my face. I decided to scream and flail around like a nut ball. Marcus smiled while Ben and Alice tried to grab Nico and stop him from murdering me. Yeah. My life is so great now that I know I'm a demigod. And Marcus really _is_ oblivious.

"Now," he started as all old men do, "I would recommend staying away from South America, Mexico and Jamaica. I've heard things." He tapped my head with his cane. "Don't go for the north. Don't." He tapped my head with his cane thoughtfully, like how some people tap their chins when in deep thought. "Don't go to the battlefield. The one trying to hide his presence from me will tell you where it is I'm talking about." He smiled. "Blind men see everything, boy. Now get in here so I don't feel like you're trying to kill me."

Charles removed himself from the doorway and took one step inside. Marcus wrung his hands and leaned back. "Good." His smile fell. "Now kill him."

Two figures emerged from out of nowhere. One was a girl with long black hair and the other was a boy with white hair. They tackled Charles to the ground, snarling and hissing like cats. Charles kicked the girl in the chest and Nico pulled out his sword, aiming it towards the boy. Marcus frowned.

"Why would you kill the ones protecting you from a liar, Nico? You didn't like liars last I checked."

_And realize the friend who lies._

Charles was up in an instant, sword out and slashing down the chest of the boy. He bled quickly, dropping to the ground. Charles cut off his head and stabbed him in the back for good measure. No, I realized. He wasn't fine. Did that mean Shane and I weren't fine? A tan, wrinkled hand sat upon my head. "You're only as fine as you want to be," Marcus murmured.

The girl screeched in rage and threw herself at Charles who lunged forward. They collided and he dropped his sword in favor of taking the girl's head and snapping her neck. He fell back and picked up his sword which he bore at Marcus, whose face was etched in a frown.

"He will find out about this," Charles whispered and then he disappeared out of the doorway, faster than any of us could've caught him.

"I guess you weren't the bad guy," Alice whispered. "I guess that's why he wanted you dead."

"Your friend sees too much, as I do, Ms. Daniels." Marcus rose to his feet and propped himself up with his cane. "A blind man can see almost as well as a person who isn't, same as a deaf girl can hear almost as well as a person who can."

He wobbled out of the doorway. "I suggest you don't go north but if you want that boy back then go." He turned at looked at the five of us. "Nico, I don't recommend it, but if you wish to remember the past you've forgotten then you should all go north. A world we can't live on is a grave one but I'd rather it than risk any of you going. He isn't a good man and He'll most likely slaughter you all,now that Charles has gone to Him."

"Who are you talking about," Jessica snapped, looking a little green.

Marcus pointed his cane at me, Ben and Nico. "Those two should know and Nico, well, he was there the first time. Thank you for trying, Nico, but not everyone wins."

He yelled out for a woman named Susan who appeared and started to clean up the bodies. I stared at Marcus's retreating back. Then I stood up shakily.

"Come on," I whispered. "We have to go to Canada."

* * *

><p>So how did you guys like that? Interesting.<p>

Once again I am really sorry for not updating. I just hit a wall. I tried to keep everything in the same personality since in the walls of my depression I deleted the folder where I had stored all the character profiles. Ugh, I'm an idiot. In other news, I write some non-fanfiction stuff and post it up on Deviantart. Link to my page is in my profile if you ever want to check it out.

So anyway, I'm going to go start Chapter Seven. I never did intend for this fic or any fic I've written to be longer than maybe 10 chapters which is why we're heading to the climax pretty quickly. Heh. I am such a crappy writer. NO! STOP THE NEGATIVE THOUGHTS, HAPPYKID44! *slaps self*

Anyway, hope you guys liked it.

-Happykid44


	7. Chapter 7

Merry Christmas, my lovelies. Bask in my greatness.

Anyway, I got a beta for the Naruto fic so for anyone interested or anyone who has friends that may be interested the first chapter should be out maybe a week or so after this one is completed. And it is so close too.

This may be the first time I've ever put up a warning but here we go:

Warning: This chapter - and maybe the chapters that follow - contains scenes of violence. They're pretty obvious so if you don't like or can't handle violence skip it.

* * *

><p>We drove for a long time. None of slept. None of us ate. Ben kept to himself, curled up in a ball, head tucked between his knees. I didn't ask how he knew about Dr. Howard or anything. I just let him be miserable, knowing if I did, he'd only ball up deeper into his pit of misery. Alice tried to keep the mood light but telling jokes but every time she spoke, the tension in the air grew thicker. Jessica stayed up front, driving to keep her hands and mind busy. Nico sat in the back, probably replaying what Marcus had told him. Me? Well, I just sat there, wondering when my bridge would break, wondering when Dr. Howard would somehow assume control over me.<p>

When we first started to drive, I had told them everything, how I saw the Canadian border in my recent dream, the border patrol guy dead, how I had dreamt of Dr. Howard injecting stuff into Charles, Shane and me at camp, how I woke up outside with a dead guy beside us and how I panicked and hid his body. Ben just shrunk back and Nico stayed at a distance. Alice tried comforting me but I got scared and told Nico to bind me up. He only did my hands and legs, reminding me that Ben hadn't taken off the Tracker yet. Jessica's eyes were cold as they watched me at brief intervals through the rear view mirror.

I still didn't trust myself but I kept that to my head and stayed quiet.

The ride was tense. Everyone was probably thinking about the danger up ahead. For reasons beyond me, I wasn't thinking about panic or danger or dying. I was thinking about Nico. In fact, my every though was directed towards him. He must have noticed this when he started driving because he questioned me about it. As usual, we were the only ones awake and I had moved to the shotgun seat of the car after Nico untied me. Everyone assured me that they'd put a knife through my neck should I go insane. To be honest, it didn't really help but I shut up and let them. Nico looked over to me.

"What's up?" he asked with a tilt of his head.

"Nothing." I turned my head away from him, recrossed my arms and stared through the glass to the road before us.

He snorted, "Nothing my ass." A small tugging smirk fell into play on his lips. "You don't get to stare at me for three hours and say it's nothing."

I could tell he wanted to joke about my so called "undying love obsession" but I wasn't up for it. So instead I just rolled my eyes annoyed and kept quiet. That made him frown.

He nudged my arm with his elbow. "Seriously. What's wrong?"

I closed my eyes and released a hot, angry breath. "I'm just sorry that you or I might die here and then you might never really learn anything about your past life."

He stared at me, bewilderment in his eyes. He laughed. "You're joking right?" He look genuinely shocked.

I shrugged, blowing my bangs out of my face. "I dunno. I've never really thought of myself in moments of danger or panic. I usually think of the person next to, in front of or behind me."

"You are unlike any girl I've ever met," he chuckled. He grinned at my annoyed look. "Don't worry," he insisted. "Tha's a good thing."

I just huffed and refused to meet his dark eyes. I wasn't lying when I said I was sorry that Nico might never learn anything about his past. I was pretty pissed about that. I mean if he died then he definitely wouldn't know anything. If I died then maybe Shane or Alexis know how to do what I do and he could have a chance. But still. Knowing that he might never learn about his past life hit me harder than I ever assumed it would. It kind of creeped me out a little. But... I don't know, maybe I liked being able to show him things. It was a way to make him smile and stop looking at the bad things in life.

We sat in silence for a duration of the way, tense but slightly comfortable. I wasn't growing drowsy or tired which in itself pleased me since I didn't want to sleep. Nico didn't look tired either but every so often I'd see his arms loose strength and fall, fingers drifting slowly down the steering wheel. Of course, before I had a chance to ask him if he wanted to sleep, he noticed what he was doing and stiffened up, sending me a look that said "I'm fine" in the process. Boys. Can't live with them. Can't live without them.

Nico drove to a slow stop and looked at me. "Can you do it when I'm awake?"

"I don't know," I replied after a while, fully knowing what he meant by "it".

"Try." He paused and then added, "For my happiness."

I gave in. He freaking touched the part of me that longs to do what makes a person happy. I am so screwed. I reached out and touch his face very lightly, closing my eyes. When I opened them, I was met with the sun. A pale nine-year old boy was several feet in front of me. He wore black trunks that were being held in place with pins. A blue haired boy ran over to him, screaming at the top his lungs attack noises.

"Whoa," a soft voice whispered next to me.

I jumped and drew my sword quickly as I faced them. Nico never looked at me. Just at himself. And then, slowly, he moved forward until he broke into a run. I stood there for a long time, just watching him run up to his mini-self. He crouched next to the younger boy and marveled at everything, every feature, every movement from his slicked back hair to his small hands to the way his feet dug into the soft dirt below. When Mini-Nico began to walk away, chatting intimately with Fish, Nico sunk to his knees, his lips curved into a small smile that held big emotions.

I grinned. "Having fun there?" I called.

Nico didn't say anything. He just looked at me and smiled warmly, rising to his feet. He jogged back to me and threw his arms around me. As he did so, the world slowed down right until he caught me in a deep embrace. "Thank you," he whispered into my ear. "Thank you so much."

I didn't say anything but pulled back a bit to brush a few stray hairs that had fallen into his face. His eyes were soft and brown. He squeezed me once more and then grabbed my hand and pulled me to where the boys had disappeared to.

Fish was strewn over the lap of a white haired girl who didn't look too happy. She smacked him on his naked chest. He jumped up and pointed to her accusingly.

"NICO!" he shrieked. "SHE HIT ME!"

Nico, who had been gathering sand at the water's edge, looked up, shielding his eyes from the glare of the sun. He rolled his eyes. "Stop it, Alexis."

My Nico, the one I knew, perked up at the name. Alexis. I stared at him. Go figure. He made friends with a girl who shared the same name as a person he knew when he young. I guessed that was why he did make friends with her. According to her, Nico said he felt an attraction towards her, not sexual or romantic, but just an attraction. Maybe it was the name.

I looked back down to see the girl's reaction. She didn't do anything. Instead, she crossed her arms over her chest and slumped, looking annoyed at Fish. Fish looked annoyed with her as well and I could see a faint red hand mark forming on his tan skin. Then he stuck his tongue out at her. Her eyes widened at then she pointed him accusingly.

"NICO!" she shrieked. "HE STUCK HIS TONGUE OUT AT ME!"

I snickered despite myself. Nico's jaw dropped.

"Oh. My. Gods."

"What?"

Nico turned his head to me very slowly. He kept his voice low when he spoke. "I'm wanted."

I'll never know if that was intended to be a joke because he said it so seriously but when I burst out laughing he followed suit several seconds after. We watched for a long time as Mini-Nico constantly had to reprimand either Lucy or Fish for doing something considerable rude or violent to the other. During this time we found out that Nico's mother was a dancer, she was very pretty, very scary and was referred to as "Mama Di Angelo" by Fish. We learned that Fish was in fact the Son of Poseidon when he tried to "discreetly" kill Alexis by drowning her in a ball of water. We found out that Lucy is the daughter of Zeus after she tried killing Fish by zapping mini-lightning bolts at him. Fish liked to sing a lot, especially when songs he sang Alexis didn't like. Nico's babysitter - and assumed trainer - was Thanatos as revealed by Alexis when she was teasing him about it. Fish preferred hand-to-hand combat while Alexis and Nico favoured swords after watching a battle between them and two hydras. It went by pretty quickly. Fish had a boyfriend (Nico's befriending of gay people started when he was young apparently), Alexis had a boyfriend and Nico was in the process of trying to get a girlfriend. I don't really remember how I found this out but I did.

Present-Nico loved every interaction and tried to point out stuff I missed while watching it at the same time which was really, really, really hard because Nico got easily distracted by everything. I prayed that we both managed to make it through whatever was waiting for us just so I could make him this excited all the time, whenever he wished it.

"Did you see that?" he whispered excitedly. "Did you? Did you?"

I watched his face and nodded. He barely acknowledged it, already having seen something for exciting, but that made me happy. Soon Lucy's boyfriend, a boy named Peter who had blonde hair, combed and slicked more back than Mini-Nico's, and was considerably taller than most nine-year olds I knew, walked over. He sat down on the red blanket spread out over the sand and then pulled Lucy possessively into his lap. She didn't seem bothered by it and just smiled happily at him, pecking him once on the cheek. Peter had yellow glasses and gray eyes that watched Lucy's every move.

Mini-Nico watched them. I could've sworn I saw a small glint of jealousy in his small brown eyes. I guess he knew about the whole love ordeal he and the rest of his half-brothers were sentenced to. Nico winced so I guessed he saw the jealousy too.

Present-Nico mussed up his hair, laughing, "I guess my love life is going the same here as it does now."

I rolled my eyes. "You were too young anyway. They're all too young."

Nico snorted a muffled half-laugh. "You're forgetting this is the 1920's, sweetheart. Kids dated at six to get married at fourteen."(1)

I rolled on to my back, crossing my arms over my chest. "Shut up. I wasn't born then so I don't live by that rule."

Nico just grinned at me, briefly though. He was missing stuff. I closed my eyes and focused on the rippling of waves, the small pitter-patter on to the sand. It was a clear day. Just perfect. Suddenly I heard barking and Present-Nico swore. Hellhound? I jumped up, ready for action, momentarily forgetting this was the past and I couldn't do anything to help.

"Emily!" Nico yelped, getting to his feet. "Looklooklooklooklook."(2) He kept waving his finger at something on the beach.

I moved forward cautiously, still having forgotten this was a memory and I couldn't do anything or get hurt. I. Am. An. Idiot.

"What?" Then I saw it. A large black dog thumping its tail in the center of the group of kids. I didn't see Fish so in essence I panicked. Even more so because the oversized dog was barking at Alexis, murder in its blue eyes.

"Did you see that?" Nico was still waving his finger except now he was jumping up and down as well. "Did you? Did you?"

"See what?!"

He grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me. "Fish turned into a dog."

Then he threw me back and ran down to the beach to get closer. I stood there, slowly realizing that Nico was not normal. At all. Like, there was not an ounce of normalcy in his blood. Not one. Reluctantly I followed the insane boy, growing closer and closer. As I did, I noticed the dog's fur wasn't actually black. There was a blue tint to it. When I reached Present-Nico I realized that it wasn't a tint. The fur was actually blue. Like Fish's hair. My breath caught in my throat for a minute. What in fuckitedy fuck was this? It couldn't really be the eight year old boy, could it? No. That only existed in weird ass books and movies where vampires sparkle.

"What the...," I began, waving bizarrely at the dog who may or may not have been Fish.

Mini-Nico rolled his eyes and kicked the dog in its shin. Or I think it was the shin.

"Leave Alexis alone, you big dummy," he said. "It's not her fault."

The dog huffed. Really. It huffed. Huffed! Slowly it walked to Mini-Nico, laying its large head in Mini-Nico's lap. After that it swiftly turned back in the small blue haired boy I thought was an idiot. At this point in time I was freaking out while my body was frozen in shock and Nico was babbling nonsense in Italian, Greek _and _English while his body was jumping up and down in excitement.

"What? What the? What?" I mumbled, not really making sense of what just happened at all.

Nico jumped up in down in excitement. "DID YOU SEE THAT?! DID YOU FUCKING SEE THAT?!" Then he stopped to grab me by the shoulders again and shook me back and forth. "Do you know what this means? Do you? Do you?"

My brain was currently being turned into a slushy, rendering it useless, and Nico took my body's back and forward motions to mean my head was shaking in response.

"It means," he began, finally letting me go to where I collapsed on the ground, really dizzy, "that I have the COOLEST FRIEND EVER!"

Only Nico would be able to see it like that. Only Nico. I mentally face palmed myself as I stood shakily to the ground. The world spun around me while I stumbled, only stopping when I gripped Nico's arms for support.

I waved my hands around in some sort of bizarre circle. "How do you conclude that?"

He turned to me and went back to jumping up and down, not registering I needed him for support. It didn't matter. I was getting some feeling back into my legs. Oh wait. It went away. Crap. I fell back to the ground, vaguely aware of Nico saying something as static rang in my ears. Ah crap. Screw what I said before. I'm not showing him this ever agin. Freaking weirdo.

I readjusted my hearing aids and just laid on the sand for a long time while Nico followed all of the kids. The tide was rising so they moved their towel up to the grass. Fish swam through me, above me and next to me. The water washed over me and I could feel it, just like I could feel the breeze and the sun, but I didn't get wet and could still breathe. I guess this is what children of Poseidon can do. If so, Percy is so lucky. So is Fish. And Charles even though he is the bad guy and I shouldn't be thinking about him.

Closing my eyes, I took a long breath and just relaxed. When I opened my eyes, a large pale man was standing above me. He looked like Nico, an older version of my friend who was who knows where. I sat up and then pushed myself up. The pale man sat down and looked at me. I mean, he really looked at me. Not through me like I had seen Fish or Mini-Nico do. He smiled, closing his eyes as he did so.

"Hello." His voice was clear and happy.

"Uh."

"It's nice here, isn't it?" He looked around. "Sometimes I come here just to watch his years go by. No time passes on the outside," he continued.

I stared at him, still incapable of saying anything other than, "Uh."

He ignored my stupidity and weirdness, looking around eagerly. "Huh, I seem to be late for the party." He tapped his chin. "Interesting. I could've sworn I set it to the right time. Very curious." Then the man stood up, brushed his black jeans and stuck his hands in his pockets, walking off. "Well, you better get him out of here before he never wants to leave." The pale man waved to me. "Goodbye, Rosie!"

Then he ran out of sight, leaving me to stand there confused. Rosie. Who in the goddamn world was Rosie? Maybe she was a weird, slightly insane, daughter of Morpheus who got herself trapped in a quest she was regretting and liked to draw?

I doubted it.

_Weirdo, _I thought.

So I started walking after Nico, knowing what the weird man had said was true. Any longer and Nico would want to stay just to watch himself grow up. I found him lying on his stomach hidden behind some tall grass, watching his mini self-talk with a blonde haired girl who looked annoyed.

The blonde girl crossed her arms and looked behind Mini-Nico. "Where's my brother, Nico?"

Mini-Nico grinned but rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Well, he actually went off to kill his enemy. The cat."

They must've been talking about Fish, the dog boy with a weird name.

She glowered at Mini-Nico and hissed, "Get him back then! We have to go!"

"He doesn't have to go anywhere," Mini-Nico snarled back, his tiny defensive system rising.

Present-Nico snickered, "Oh, mini-me, that's not a good way to get loving." He waggled his finger.

I raised my eye. So Mini-Nico _was _in the process of getting a girl. Interesting. I decided to let Present-Nico watch the conversation between his younger self and his younger self's love interest. I don't think it was going to end well.

The blonde girl poked Mini-Nico's chest harshly, snapping, "Our mother said we have to go home. NOW!"

Mini-Nico crossed his arms. "Your mother's a whore. I doubt she said anything since her mouth was probably pre-occupied."

Present-Nico and I dropped our smiles. Mini-Nico did not know how to get girls. At all.

"MY MOTHER IS NOT A WHORE!"

"Oh, really. How was Fish face born again? Oh yeah, your mother had sex with his dad when she was pregnant with you. Who happens to have a completely different parent than him even though you're both twins." Mini-Nico smirked. I thought he was screwed even though I didn't understand how Fish and the girl could be twins if they had different dads. Present-Nico repeatedly banged his head against the ground, mumbling, "I am an idiot. I am an idiot."

The blonde girl was sparking in rage. Her breathing was harsh and dark. I had a feeling I would never want to get into a fight with her. Like ever. She was so much smaller than me and yet I still felt intimidated. Something laughed. I turned around to look for the source but couldn't find it. Huh. Weird.

"Go to Hell," she hissed and then she turned on her heel and marched off.

I dropped to my knees, grabing a hold of Present-Nico's shoulder when Mini-Nico raised his hands above his head a wave. As I broke the connection I thought heard him say, "I've already been there, Rosie." But I'm pretty sure I imagined it.

Present-Nico grinned. "That was so cool. Except that last bit."

I tiled my head and nodded. "Yeah it was," I agreed. "Except for the last bit."

We drove a bit more before Nico grew tired and called it a night. I offered to drive since I didn't want to sleep and we had a lot of ground to cover even if driving wasn't my safe point and he accepted after a while of thinking about it. I think he was putting on theatrics in case someone woke up and reprimanded him for letting the "crazy girl of insanity" (Jessica thought of it. Isn't she the nicest) drive. But I promised I wouldn't do anything stupid and that Ben still had the Tracker on me.

So I drove in peace for twenty-two minutes and three seconds - I was really bored - before I was disturbed.

"Hey!"

"AHH!" I yelled, jumping back and grabbing a straw that was on the dashboard. I held it as threateningly as I could to the boy.

He tapped his chin and then pointed at my straw. "You know, I never wanted to die in a lame way like "death by straw." He said the death by straw part mockingly. Asshole. Does he not realize that a straw is the most dangerous weapon in the world? What if it breaks and you can't drink anything? Then you get dehydrated a die. I told him this.

The boy grinned. "Ah. Interesting way of thinking, Emily dear."

After he spoke, I asked the most cliché question of all. "Who are you and how do you know my name?" Man, I suck.

"Well, I am who I am and I know your name because I know your name." He sent me another cheeky grin. I slapped him. "OW!"

"Then answer me. Truthfully this time," I hissed.

"Um, first of all, your foot is still on the pedal and there's a car heading straight for us because we've turned into their lane." I jumped into action, chucking my straw at him, and veered back into the right lane. Ah geez. "Second, I am who I am because who else would I be." I glared at him, annoyed. "Third I do know your name because I know your name. I don't know how but I do." I still glared at him. I did not approve of his answers. Except the first since that one saved my life.

"What's your name then?" I asked.

"I have a lot of names."

"Give me one."

"Idiot."

"That's not a name," I almost screamed.

He grinned. "It is to me."

"Give me a proper one."

"That is a proper one."

"No it's not.

"Yes it is."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Did you know your cats are dead?"

I don't know what surprised me more, the fact he said that or the fact I punched him in the face and held my sword to his throat over it.

"Don't say that. Ever." I was pleased.

He watched me carefully and smirked. "But they are."

A blood drop dripped down his neck and past his shirt. I felt pleased when he winced. I drew my sword back a bit. "Shut up."

He looked at me harder. "They're dead, Ms. Emily."

More blood followed. "Say it again and I will cut off your head."

"Your cats. Are. Dead."

He dove out of the way, car door open, falling on to the pavement. He scrambled to his feet as I lunged forward, hate and anger turning into rage and murder. An electric buzz suddenly jolted up my spine, my sword seconds away from impaling his chest before falling to the ground. When I looked up through blurry vision, I saw him holding a button. Ben's button.

"I've told him time and time again to hide this where people can't get it when he sleeps," the boy sighed. "He never listens. Except for that one summer when we went to Vegas. That was an interesting time." He skipped around me. "Of course I wasn't actually there in, like, my entirety but I was still there so it counts." He thought about it. "Sort of."

While he pondered whether it counted or not, I grabbed my sword and threw myself at him. His eyes widened as he turned and he tried to duck from the blow but I got him first. It was weird though. I didn't hit him with my sword to where I could've killed him. I had turned my sword without realizing it and only struck him with the side, knocking him down and not doing any real damage. There was a small gash on his cheek though. That was nice.

He scrambled back on to his feet and raised the button. I didn't give him a chance to touch before I swung my sword. He threw down the button and grabbed the sword with both hands. That's when I noticed he had the same cuts on his hands that I had. He groaned out in pain. I smirked, knowing that right now I was winning. He tried to kick me but I slipped out of the way and brought my sword down on his shoulder. He choked out a moan which pleased me. If he kept quiet the chance nobody would wake up would greater. I kicked him in the chest, sending him flying across the road. Blood dripped from his palms, his cheek and his shoulder, right to the road below. I decided that if I killed him now then by the time anyone passed through we would be long gone and there'd be no evidence that we were even here. I quickly checked for security cameras, finding none as I stalked towards him, ready for the finishing blow.

I raised my sword above my head. He looked at me panicked. Just as I was about to slash him, I froze. What was I doing? Panic fogged up my head and my sword clattered to the ground. The boy rose up, steadily shaking, one bloody hand gripping his shoulder. I stumbled back, grabbing at my head. No. I didn't kill people. I certainly didn't gain any amusement from it. He kicked my sword out of the way and limped over to me, face grimace in pain. I instantly regretted hurting him. With his free hand he tucked back my stray strands of hair and kissed the top of my head, pulling me into a quiet hug. I whimpered silently, finding an odd source of calm and happiness within his grasp.

"It's okay," he murmured. "It's okay."

He repeated it like a mantra, swaying me back and forth, side to side, like a mother would do. I kept quiet, releasing small sobs when I realized that, unknowingly to me at the time, I had already become Dr. Howard's puppet. I had become the puppet of a sick, twisted man that experimented on children and made them kill others and it scared me. I wanted to call Shane and tell him everything but I couldn't. I had a feeling he already knew. I had a feeling he had already harmed people. So I stayed within the comfortable grasp of a stranger and cried for a long, long time.

Everybody slept even as the sun rose over the horizon. The boy drove forward, listening to my mumbled directions with apt ears. I didn't ask his name, where he came from, how he kept appearing or why he only did when I was alone. I mumbled directions and that was all. He drove and that was all. I didn't ask and he didn't talk

We just sat there.

I peered over my shoulder to check on everybody. Jessica was holding Nico's hand, her head on Ben's legs. Ben was snoring on a small travel pillow. Alice was curled up into Nico, who had his free hand cradling her to his chest. He was smiling. I smiled at the sight and turned back to the front.

"Turn left," I mumbled, sinking deeper into my seat. Any deeper and I'd become the seat.

"Gotcha," he said, his usual phrase. He looked at me quickly, a silver of amusement in his eyes. "Any deeper and you'll become the seat."

I rolled my eyes and pulled myself up, wrapping my arms around my knees. "Turn right at the point after this one. We need gas."

He did so and pulled up in front of a gas station. He cracked his knuckles and grinned at me. "I think that a pretty good drive for my first time."

"WHAT?!"

He slapped his hands over my mouth and jerked his head to the people behind us. Ben shifted, frowning but didn't wake up. The boy dragged me outside to the store.

"Well," he started, "I have driven before but that was a high speed chase when I was nine and I was allowed to run stoplights and into gardens and people's yards and parks and playgrounds."

I closed my eyes and pushed open the door. "Give me twenty," I mumbled to the chashier. He nodded and yelled for some guy named Joe to pump up our van.

I handed him my money and started to the door when I heard the boy yell, "EMILY! CAN I HAVE SOME MONEY?"

Against my will, I turned around. He was holding bag after bag after bag of chips, piled with sodas and cookies and a carton of vanilla ice cream. We were only in the store for a minute. How the hell did he manage to grab all of that stuff? I babbled nonsense, watching we shocked eyes as he dropped everything on to the counter and the cashier started checking out items.

"That'll be two hundred twenty-two dollars and forty-eight cents." His voice was a monotone. Did he not realize I couldn't pay for any of this? I only had twenty dollars. Which I used to pay for the damn gas!

The boy had bagged everything by the time I made it to the checkout counter, before I could explain to the cashier that I couldn't afford any of this stuff.

"Look,. I'm sorry but I can't afford these items, so I'll put everything back and then leave." I smiled, hoping I could use whatever cuteness I had to make him not pissed.

"It's okay," he said. "It's not like you were leaving here alive anyway."

I blinked. "What?"

Sometimes I am really clueless and don't realize things straight away. This is one of those times. The boy pulled out a blue sword, jumping into action in front of me. The sword had a dark green trident indented into the hilt. The cashier, who I have now dubbed Evil because he is and he needs a name, snarled and pulled out his own sword. I stood there like an idiot, brain, once again, not processing anything in front of me. If I get out of this alive, I heading to the nearest doctor and having them examine my brain and my reflexes because clearly something is wrong.

Evil grabbed a cigarette case from behind the counter and threw it at the boy, who I have finally decided to dub Trident because he has one on his sword and he really needs a name. Trident ducked and it smacked me in the face. I couldn't even muster an "ow" because my brain was not working. I blinked again and stepped out of the way when another case of cigarettes was thrown.

Evil yelled something. Trident yelled something. I took a step back as they began to fight and then grabbed a pack of popcorn. Joe walked in, looked at me, looked at the fight, looked at me, looked at the fight. He did this for a while then shrugged, popped open a plastic bag of popcorn and munched along with me.

"What's up," he asked.

"Not much," I replied.

"You know, once our bags are done I have to kill you or die trying, right?" he said.

I nodded. "I know." I patted his arm. "But for now let's eat."

"Deal."

We ate. Evil fought. Trident fought. I looked down at my empty bag and then at Joe. His bag was empty and he threw it in a nearby trashcan. I threw mine at his face, temporarily blinding him while I got ready for a move Alice told me would be useless but I tried learning anyway. As he tore it from his face, I jumped up into the air and sent a flying kick to his face, narrowly missing it. He smirked, thinking it was accidental, when I kicked his chest with my other foot, somersaulting backwards into the air. I landed on the floor, arms bent back to catch me in the beginning position of the crab walk(3), and swept my foot under his legs as he stumbled. He fell back and I brandished my sword.

"Guess you died trying," I said.

Then I stabbed him in the chest. When I pulled my sword out, it making a squelching sword that grossed me out, I laughed and looked triumph with my hands on my hips and everything. "And Alice said learning that would be useless."

I turned and came face-to-back with Evil's back. Having landed on me, he grinned and flipped over, snarling and readying his blade for a slash at my throat. A loud growl emerged from Trident. Evil grabbed me by the shirt front and held me in front of him as he pulled us up to a stand. He held his sword to my throat. Trident looked ready to kill. I felt a sharp pain and liquid dripped down my neck on to my shirt. Trident snarled and then I closed my eyes. As if in slow motion and not actually in control of my body, I felt myself elbow Evil in the gut. He didn't move but brought his sword closer, making the cut slightly deeper. I pushed on hand upwards into air and light appeared behind my eyelids. Evil faltered and loosened up, wincing and groaning at something. My eyes remained close as my body stepped forward, one hand grabbing a hold of my captor's sword arm and twisting it. I opened my eyes and let go. He collapsed and then stood shakily up, anger in his pale eyes. Every ounce of my body told me to run but like I said, I didn't feel like I was really in control.

Trident growled and hissed, "Don't." He started running and finished his sentence with a yell. "TOUCH MY SISTER!"

My brain told me to wonder why he would say something like that but I didn't. Instead I watched as the boy I barely knew, throw himself forward into a man who wanted to kill us both and turn into a dog while doing it. My eyes widened. _Fish, _I thought, finally realizing who the boy was. His blue hair should've been a giveaway but then again nowadays people dye their hair blue all the time. And he should've been dead.

I watched him tear apart Evil, growling and snarling. When he was done he sat back on his hind legs and looked down. Tentatively I stepped forward.

"You okay?" I whispered. His muzzle was covered in blood and body bits.

He slumped back, turning back into Fish. He laughed, quietly. "That's the first thing you ask?"

"Safety first," I said, nudging his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He got up and stretched his legs. "Let's go."

I nodded and grabbed the few bags of food he insisted we still get. I opened up the back of the van and put the bags inside some crates that were there. Then we hopped back into the front, him in the driver's seat, me riding shotgun. Yup. I let the dog boy drive. I am a genius. I stretched my legs and plopped my head on his lap.

"Why'd you call me your sister?"

He looked down at me. "Because you have her."

"I have your sister?" I frowned, not understanding. To be honest, I don't think anybody would either.

"Yup. You got her right there." He tapped my chest.

"I have her heart?" Once again, I frowned.

"I can't tell you what you have, just like I can't tell you my actual name or a bunch of other stuff. I'm kind of restricted against it until you know it. And even if I wasn't I still wouldn't tell you. Figure it out. You gotta brain, right?"

I punch his leg to show him how much I did not approve of his comment and huffed, pulling myself back into my seat. "Of course I have a brain." I crossed my arms and slouched into my seat. "Otherwise I'd be dead."

He cocked his head. "One of my names is Brain Dead or Brainless."

I thumped him. "Shut up," I snapped. "That's an insult, not a name."

"I only listen to one person about stuff like that and they have to use you to remember me." He gave me a look.

I sighed. I felt sorry for him, probably wandering around, trying to find Nico and then when he does, Nico doesn't even know who he is. That must've sucked.

He sighed, loosening up his body from what I could see. "Sometimes I get really sad and all I want to do is die but I can't because I'm bound here." He shook his head. "You don't know what it feels like. To want something, to want to die so much but can't because an asshole-" He cut off, choking on his words.

"Bound you here?" I guessed.

He nodded. "Sort of."

We drove for half an hour in silence. I stared outside my window, watching everything blur around me. Then I got bored and grabbed my backpack, pulling out a book Annabeth insisted I take the day before we left.

"What happens if it gets burnt or I die or something happens and I can't give it back," I asked, worried.

She smiled. "I don't care. I have another copy. I just think this will come in handy."

Then she congratulated me on my training and went off to go finish her repairs of Olympus. Somehow I didn't think she intended the book to be read out of boredom but hey, beggars can't be choosers. Though I don't know how that relates to it. I closed my eyes and opened up the book to a random page. Hey, it was a information book. This is what I do all the time with books like these. And books I've already read. But that's not the point!

I propped my feet up on the dashboard and began reading.

**Souls**

This chapter is fully dedicated to the soul of humans, gods and demigods.

**Human Souls**

Human souls are very delicate and fragile.

I skipped that section and a bunch of others until I came to one that interested me.

**Soul Infusions**

Soul Infusions are common with demigods. This is because the godly portion of a demigod may corrode or destroy the soul of the demigod, usually resulting in the death of a demigod before the third or fourth birthday. This is increasingly common among Hades's offsprings as a portion of his blood is consider "dead" which hurts the soul. A Soul Infusion is done through matching the soul of the living demigod with a willing dead soul of another demigod. The dead soul does not necessarily have to match the godly potion of the living demigod as the dead soul is merely there for support. Then Thanatos or Hades, more commonly Thanatos, mold both souls together. A barrier is created to stop the dead soul from taking control or releasing its own powers which remain intact in the soul even after death.

I blinked.

"Um, when you said I had your sister, did you mean I have her soul?" I looked at Fish.

He nodded. "Yep."

"Oh." Another question. "So what happened in the store was her?"

"Yep."

"Okay. But I thought she couldn't take control."

Fish sighed. He cracked his knuckles and his neck. Squinting out the windshield, he said, "Well, um, from what I know from Nico since, you know, his soul thingy, is that when you're danger or something, uh, they come through themselves to save you. Nico told me it was like they wanted to preserve your body because they're selfish and they want to, like, live more or something." He laughed. "But I think she just wanted to be able to show off." He looked down at my breasts, trying to make contact with his dead sister's soul. "Bitch."

I slapped him. "And you're an ass." Yeah, that definitely wasn't me. "Sorry, Emily, couldn't resist. Now where's the barrier?" I mumbled.

"So mean," Fish grumbled.

"Love me." STOP USING MY MOUTH! It's so creepy.

I waited a few seconds then flexed my fingers, stretched my legs, bent my arms, opened my mouth and blinked. A lot.

Fish snickered. "What? You trying to make sure your body is yours?"

"Totally," I muttered.

"Sorry," a girl's voice rang in my head.

I jumped out of my skin and pinned myself against my chair, staring at the dashboad. Fish frowned. Then a look of understanding fell over his face.

"Ah." he nodded, smirking. "She's in your head, isn't she?"

I just glared at his amused face. Then I shuddered and looked up through the window, slouching in my seat. This was going to be a long ride.

* * *

><p>1 - I don't know if this is true but I know that way back then people got married very young so I can only guess that those same people dated at very yong ages which corrosponds with the fact Fish can date Ben, Lucy can date Peter at eight.<p>

2 - This was intentional. Sometimes when kids see things they think are interesting, exciting or cool, they'll push their words together to form a block of "look"s. So please don't point it out in a review okay. Thanks.

3 - The crab walk, for people who don't know, is when you get on your back and push your chest up. You bend your arms back so that your palms are on the ground. Then you bend your legs and then you start walking and that would be the crab walk. Most people do this when their kids. Many can not do it now that they are older.

Anyway, this chapter isn't as lengthy but I'm getting back into the swing of things and I'm currently obessessed with Civilization Three. BOW DOWN TO ME! I WILL BE ULTIMATE!

Well, I hope the guys that promised to stick around do and the ones that didn't do anyway. REVIEW! And to make people review, anyone who guesses who Fish's sister's parent is will either get a) a one-shot of their choice or b) a picture of a character or their choice drawn by me. Of course both depend on whether or not I can do it.

-Happykid44


	8. Chapter 8

Sorry for the wait. My new Beta, ShadowElrondsell, was editing my last two chapters.

A sneakpeek of the next chapter for anyone who gets all hidden references first, or the person who got the most.

* * *

><p>"Nuh uh! Pie is the most delicious thing on Earth. CAKE WILL NEVER AS GOOD AS MY PRECIOUS PIE!" Fish declared with a thrust of his hand.<p>

Rosie simmered inside me and then barked out, "Oh yeah? Well, cake is at every gathering, social or otherwise, whereas your "precious pie" is only present at Thanksgiving!"

I blinked, regained control of my mouth and decided to be the peackmaker. "Guys, I don't really see how any of this is important," I said.

"SHUT UP!" they both yelled, one in my ear, the other in my head. Take a wild guess which one was which.

I sighed and was starting to tune out the argument when something shifted behind me. Fish, Rosie and I all went silent, eyes wide. Well, I guess Rosie's eyes would be, if, you know, she didn't have to use mine.

Ben's voice broke that silence. "Emily, who's that with you?"

I turned and looked at him. He was rubbing his eyes childishly. "No one's with me Ben," I whispered as Fish shifted slightly to let me move to the driver's seat. Unfortunately there wasn't any place for him to go without Ben noticing so I had to sit on his lap as he continued to drive. "Why would you think there was?"

"I heard voices." Ben's face was scrunched up.

"No voices, Ben," I said, glaring at Fish for his loudness. "No voices."

Ben yawned. "Where are we?"

My eyes widened and I looked at Fish. He whispered our location quickly in my ear. "Closing in on the border of Canada," I mumbled back.

"Oh." Ben turned around and in the split second I yelled, "Monster!", ramming on the brakes while Fish threw open the door and ran off, turning into a fuzzy oversized dog and disappearing out of view. Ben tumbled on to Nico whose body snapped up in defense thus ramming one arm into Jessica's rib who woke up and kicked Alice who I guessed she assumed was the attacker. Alice woke up and then started a bitch brawl between the two.

Ben, though, remembered my cry and jumped back up, deflating whatever air Nico had in his lungs. "Monster," he said. "Where?"

I pretended to squint through the windsheild. "Oh, sorry guys. Just a bird." Then I continued driving so they couldn't attack me. Because you don't attack the driver unless you want to get into a car crash. And car crashes would not be efficent in our quest because it would delay us a lot.

After a while everyone was out and stretching their legs. I watched Jessica argue with Nico about letting me drive. I ignored them, chewing on my lips as Alice brushed my hair. Her reasoning? Everyone should go into battle gorgeous so they die pretty. I wondered how much she hated me for pulling her into this. After she was done and everybody had loaded themselves back into the van, we continued driving.

Half an hour later we made it to the border patrol. Ben had some drug ready to knock the patrol man out but I shook my head and told Alice to keep driving. A pack of dogs ran in front of the van and we passed the mangled body of the dead patrol man. I closed my eyes and sunk deep into my seat. Rosie hummed songs inside my head to keep me calm. They were either songs I had heard before or ones she had grown up hearing. If we lived I promised to show Nico those songs.

Alice kept driving before Ben reminded everyone that Marcus had included him as one of the "in the know" people.

"Stop," he whispered, slipping out of the car seconds before the engine was even off.

I followed him and everyone else readied themselves to follow me. Ben wrapped his arm around his waist and sighed before trudging along in the thin snow. I slung an arm around him and we walked together in silent harmony. Even Rosie was quiet, something about her brimming with insecurity. A tree moved and then another, hushed voices egding us deeper and deeper into a nearby pack of woods. We slipped in easily and I looked around, contemplating how many bad sitcoms Dr. Howard had seen to put his bad guy hideout in the middle of a forest. It's amazing how easily I can be put off track.

I pulled my arm off of Ben and moved forward, farther and farther from the group, a familiar patch of blue fur standing out among the bushes and ferns and trees. I chased it as it darted down, Rosie swearing in my head that her brother was picture of stupidity. I agreed with her as my strength began to give out. A runner I may be but I don't do snow.

I panted, catching hold of a tree branch, eyes wide and searching. Fish appeared at my side, lifting me into his arms. He rolled his eyes at my patheticness.

"I don't do snow," I said patting his arm, as he moved down, working up speed to quick jog. "When's the honeymoon?"

"I'm gay, baby doll. Plus, _I don't do incest_," he replied. He peeked over his shoulder, Nico moving into view.

I winced. "Is he allowed now or that still a no-no?"

He shrugged and moved to the left, using me to swat down leafy crap. "Guess we'll see." He set me down in the clearing, right in front of a large-ass cave. "Save me if I get killed by lightning, will ya?"

I nodded. "Got it."

He grinned and then ran off, waving. I understood what he was going to do as I watched him disappear. I sat for a moment, marvelling in the scenery and the silent flutter of bird's wings and the quiet ruffle of leaves. Nico was the first to come. He stepped into the clearing but he never saw me. He stood and then stumbled forward, gasping a few times and then he grabbed his head and moaned. Marcus had said that he had said he'd been here before. He stumbled around some more, clutching his head in pain as he moaned and groaned. Was this a sign of his memories coming back?

Then I noticed his hair was changing a little as Nico's moaning lessened. Turning a vibrant shade of red from the bottom up. It kept changing until Nico screamed, "STOP!" Then it disappeared and Nico's pain increased again.

"What happened?" I whispered as he fell to his knees, nearing the point of screaming.

"Nico's soul, the other part that's like me, is trying to take over. I think he's trying to ease the pain off of Nico but Nico's stubborn. Always has been," Rosie muttered, sounding bitter at the end. "Nico can't see that he wants to protect Nico. I think I'm the only selfish one." She gave a laugh that was meant to be quiet but echoed in my head loudly. "I agreed so I could see my brother and Nico again."

"That's okay." I stood up and walked to Nico. "Just help me."

"Deal."

And she did. Just because we're around everybody else doesn't mean I don't talk to her. Between the fight at the gas station and arriving at the border, I had found out a lot about her. She was the daughter of Apollo despite being Fish's twin. She was the eldest because Apollo had "mated" as Fish put it, with her mother first. Rosie told me if her mother hadn't had Fish, she would've had both Apollo's and Poseidon's blood in her. Apparently gods don't give a crap if another got there first. They want a kid so they're getting a kid.

Rosie had grown up hating Fish for running away, believing that he had when it turned out their mother dumped him in river because she didn't want him. Which was why Fish hated his birth name and his mother. Because she left him to die, knowing fully well his father was the god of the ocean, not rivers.

Fish told me he didn't die because he could breathe underwater and some nymphs took care of him. That he was the cutest thing they had ever seen and they were his surrogate parents. They fed him, clothed him, loved him. Then one day a black man came and dumped him into the hands of Dr. Howard. After he met the man again (he couldn't tell me who the guy was) he learnt that the nymphs were intending to use him as a human sacrifice to the god of rivers, thinking, from stories they had heard from mortals who had walked along their edge, that it would appease him and stop the flow of pollution killing and sickening their water. The man revealed he had given Fish to Dr. Howard as an exchange for something else. He couldn't tell me what.

I used my ability to get inside the mind and Rosie matched her own healing powers to ease Nico's pain. It stopped seconds before Ben, Jessica and _my_ Alice appeared. Nico knew best to stay quiet but he gave me an odd look as I turned back to face the cave. Nico popped up. Jessica pointed at it.

"It's in there?" She didn't look to pleased with having to go inside a cave.

Ben and I nodded. "Yes." Fish would be so proud of our twin like harmony. Rosie snorted at the thought.

Alice wrapped her arms around herself. "I hate caves. I hate caves," she grumbled.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed her hand to comfort her. "Don't worry. It's not a cave."

Alice and Jessica both sent me a "How in the name of our mama's pink eyeshadow and purple tights do you know that?"

"I just do," i muttered.

"She's right. It's not a, a, a, a..." Nico drifted off into a silence, grabbing at his head again as he tried to focus.

Then the red came back!

He yelled and screamed and moaned and groaned and did all that other stuff that shows people are in pain. Jessica tried to grab him but he threw her off angrily. Ben grabbed on to him with his left hand, his other trying to grab at Nico's neck,, trying to find a pressure point maybe. It didn't work. Ben landed in a crumpled mess by my feet. Alice was smart and pulled out her sword. She began to run to Nico, sword held high as Rosie muttered that Nico should give in and being stubborn was stupid in this current matter. It was this moment Fish decided to appear.

"NICO!" he yelled, running from the woods in what appeared his underwear. He was also running in zig-zags to avoid whatever lightning were planning to strike him, I guess. Alice stopped charging towards Nico and turned to face this odd blue haired boy in his underwear.

I looked at the sunny sky, no sign of danger. "I don't think any lightning's gonna hit you." Then I looked down, back the boy in his underwear. "Question: why are you in your underwear?"

"SILENCE, WOMAN!" he yelled, pointing a finger at me.

"Well, I have to be because you certainly aren't a man." I crossed my arms, realized something and swore. "Stop it!"

"He was asking for it!"

"STOP USING MY MOUTH!"

"Sorry," Rosie mumbled in my head.

Myr friends - and Jessica - looked at me weirdly. I ignored them and shrugged nonchantly to show my assurance it was fine should Rosie never do it again. Looking back down, I noticed Fish - _why was he in his underwear_? - shaking Nico back and forth by his shirt collar, yelling, "WAKE UP, MAN!"

Nico stopped groaning for a moment. It was at this point Ben stepped forward, grabbed Fish by his hair and threw him violently away. Like he was trash. I heard an odd squeaking sound, like a rusty door hinge needing oil. Ben ignore the squeaking noise to walk to Fish who was backing up, laughing nervously.

"Hey Babe!" he tried, enthusiastically.

I thought back to our first meeting when he had said, "I wasn't like Ben-Ben." And then I wondered how Ben would come to know this place if Dr. Howard hadn't done anything to him, like he had done to me. So I brilliantly came to a conclusion that you all probably came to chapters ago.

"You're the brown-haired boy whose face I couldn't see!" I yelled, pointing my finger accusingly at his retreating - and stalking - back. "And you're Fish's boyfriend!"

He turned his blonde head and nodded. "Duh."

Then he turned back to Fish who looked ready to run. He crossed his arms, that squeaking sound coming back as he did, and batted his eyes as he spoke sweetly. A deathly sweet tone. "So, sweetheart, how come you didn't tell me you were out and about?"

"I was going to. Obviously. I mean, why, why, why wouldn't I tell my boyfriend who loves me very, very much and would never hurt a hair on my head in any rage or anger he feels against me that I was here and not dead like he guessed?" Fish spluttered.

"I'm wondering that too."

Then Ben tackled Fish and repeatedly smashed him wherever he could hit. Ten minutes later and he was done, dropping a tired fist on Fish's stomach as he straddled him across the waist. I saw his shoulders shake and just as Fish was rising to comfort him, he pushed him back down with a sob and whimper, burying his head in the crook of Fish's neck. Fish murmured apologies as Ben just rode out his crying. He was happy, I realized. Happy he could have what he missed most back.

"When I heard Emily talking to you, I thought, 'Gods, I'm dreaming.' But I didn't want it to be so I asked and I hoped she was gonna say that a cute, blue-haired, knucklehead was in the driver's seat because you never let anyone else drive, and then she said no one and I got sad. Why didn't you say something? Why didn't you tell me?" he whimpered, still buried within the tight grasp of Fish's arms.

"I wasn't allowed," Fish replied. Then his eyes widened and he finally noticed something. "Why the hell is your hair yellow?"

"I dyed it."

"Why? Why in the name of all that is horny would you do that?"

"First of all, sweetheart, it's holy, not horny, and second, you always said you loved my hair and I didn't want to remember you if I couldn't have you so I dyed it blonde, not yellow, to forget you but it didn't really work and when I finally admitted that to myself I met Charles and he liked blondes and you were there so I figured I'd do it to keep you."

"Oh." Silence. Then, "That makes perfect sense." More silence.

Ben smiled warmly and then his smiled darkened and he became the bad-ass Ben I knew and sometimes feared. "Do something like that again and you die." He smiled happily again, pushed himself off of Fish, whose face resembled a horror movie character's right before their death, full of fear and terror, and skipped over to us.

"I had weird friends," Nico decided, having become sane right after Fish was thrown by Ben.

"Yeah," I agreed. "You really did."

* * *

><p>After an hour of introductions, planning, snowball fights and chasing Ben to stop him from murdering Fish we were ready to go. Please don't ask. I'm still not sure what the hell happened in that hour. And I was one of the people present!<p>

I swung my sword up and stepped into place behind Ben and Fish (who finally put some clothes on), Nico behind, sort of, next to me. Fish was up front because he was the one with the smelling ability and the automatic reflexes besides me (a happy gift we both got from Dr. Howard). Ben was behind him because he could remember the layout of their previous time here, a time they refused to share with us, Ben because it scarred him and Fish because he wasn't allowed. I was next because I, well, I have automatic reflexes so they made me stay closer to the front despite my protests I should be in the back to scope out for monsters.

Alice said no because I might run away. Fish said no because he wanted to keep an eye on me - and his sister but that part wasn't mentioned in the hour of insanity I can't remember so he didn't say it. Jessica said yes because she wanted me to be eaten. She had no problem expressing this hope in words which makes me worry for my life should I come back from this quest. Nico said no because he wanted to talk with me. Ben said no because... well Ben couldn't really give a reason. Everyone else took all the good ones.

Anyway, after me was Nico because he could see through the dark better than the rest of us - except Fish because, you know, Fish is part dog and dogs can see in the dark. Or is it cats? Or is it both? I can never really remember. Nico was also after me just in case I did run away, he woud be able to attack it with his awesome sword and fighting skills.

After him Alice and Jessica were paired to stand next to each other, a feat both didn't seem to be able to do. But since Alice didn't want me in the back - and I think she feared for my safety against Jessica - she reluctantly agreed and then we were in the cave and heading toward certain death. I love myself and my mind which hates me since it always makes me think about the bad things. We're in a conflicted relationship right now. Don't ask.

Rosie contented me with songs she knew. I was happy she'd been listening to the ones from the present. Calming down helped when I had something familiar around or in my head. Nico tried to keep small talk up with me to ease my clear and present discomfort.

Our first try at small talk:

Nico: So (awkward pause) weather's nice.

Me: (looks around) We're in a cave.

Small Talk Try 2:

Nico: (twists sword around) So read anything new lately?

Me: (unfazed) No.

Small Talk Try 3:

Nico: (looks at me) So what's up?

Me: (looks at him) Stalactites.

Small Talk Try 4:

Nico: So you've got someone in your head too, huh? (taps head while speaking)

Me: (nods) Uh, yeah.

And that's about as far as we went. We both really, really suck at small talk. I barely get anything out and he asks such mundane questions. We both looked away from each other after our fourth fail. Besides, Fish kept up enough conversation for all five of us. He kept babbling on and on and on to Ben about where he'd been, what he'd been doing. Apparently Hades likes to play Go Fish. I didn't ask anything but eyed the blue-haired boy suspiciously, wondering about any possible brain damage he might've had as a child. Nico had said what he remembered was that Fish was exuberant.

Suddenly something dropped from the ceiling. Automatic reflexes kicked and without a thought my sword went up and cut through the substance quickly. Next thing I knew Fish's tan hands were covering my eyes and Jessica screamed, voice muffled by someone's or her own hands.

"Don't look. If you're anything like my sister, I'm not letting you look." Nico's hands helped dragged me from around the waist away a little before Fish let go.

"What happened?" I mumbled, frowning.

Fish shifted uneasily and pointed to my sword. It was decorated in bright red blood. I squeaked and recoiled back, dropping the weapon in the process. I had killed something? Then I realized what Fish meant as Rosie panicked in my head. I had killed a _person_, a someone. I whirled around to vomit into a corner, not caring if someone heard us. A cool hand rubbed my back. I puked some more, Nico's hand holding up my hair as his other patted my back soothingly.

"You good now?" Alice asked, voice worried.

I nodded, wiping my mouth. "Good," Rosie and I agreed. Though my agreement was heard by everyone else.

Ben handed me my sword, a grimace of apology. I tried not to look at the blood as I patted his head in thanks. His face soured. I stood up and thumped my chest, Tarzan style.

"Puking is for the weak." Alice raised her eyebrows. I thrust my fist into the air. "I," I began, "am weak!" And with that I marched off, having no exact clue of my destination. But, let's be honest, when do I ever?

* * *

><p>We split up as we came across two tunnels. Fish said both would end up in the same place, the entrance to Dr. Howard's "EVIL LAIR!" DUN DUN DUN! According to Fish it was best if we split up. Less chance of all us getting captured. Nico agreed and the rest of us reluctantly went along with it. Nico, Ben and Jessica took the tunnel with less light, Ben pulling a lightbulb out of his backpack. Bet you forgot we had those, huh? Well, it's not Leo's magic tool belt that I should know nothing about but it works!<p>

Ben also pulled some wire and hollow metal tube out his bag and in less then a minute he had constucted a makeshift torch. Don't ask me how. Child of Hephaestus are just cool like that.

Fish, Alice and I took the tunnel with the most light since we didn't have Nico to see for us or Ben to build and keep working a light source.

Originally, I was meant to be part of Nico's group instead of Ben. Then Alice pointed out that the lack of light could mean that the tunnel had been sealed off and was actually a dead end. Then everyone looked at me, realized my intentions and switched me with Ben. Jessica grumbled that I was a lousy leader and everyone agreed reluctantly. Damn, I'm so predictable. And it wasn't like I was going to run away. I was just going to see if I could delay my inevitable push into fighting and thus consequently dying in battle while my friends run away and wait for the impending doom of the world.

...

Wow, I think a lot about death. Maybe I should sign up for therapy if I get out alive. Heh. Who am I kidding? I'D SIGN UP FOR THERAPY ANYWAY! Pfft. Why wouldn't I? I saw a grown boy turn into a dog, I found out my dad is a Greek god, I have another person living inside my head, I see monsters, my subsitute grandfather is a demigod that ordered an ex-friend to be killed and I'm on a quest for the death of an evil doctor that's been messing with the bloodwork and genetic structure of child deimgods who lives in a cliche cave with an underground, child slave labour workshop as his evil lair and hideout (Fish can talk about important things... sometimes) Not to mention my other mental health issues we will not talk about.

Anyway...

My arm was gripped hard by Alice who groaned as we descended into the cave. Fish was carrying a thick stick (ryhming, I'm such a dweeb) and I had taken some matches from my bag and into my pocket just in case.

"Caves are bad. Caves are bad," she repeated, pulling me closer to her. Effective for her safety and my not being able to run away.

"You sound like a satyr," Fish and I pointed out.

She sent both of us a dirty look. "At least I know what's wrong with me," she snapped back, regret filling her eyes as she realized what she said.

I shut my mouth and turned my head away from her. The walls had childish stick figures drawn on them in paint and marker. A spider jumped on to my arm. I brushed it off and walked faster, tugging my arm out and away from Alice's grip. Rosie muttered something I didn't pay attention to.

"Emily!" Alice yelled. "I didn't mean that!" She started running

I made it Fish before she could catch up to my previous position. Fish turned to look at me, amused. "She _didn't _mean it."

I sniffed. "How do you know that?" I whispered back as I ignored Alice's pleading.

Fish changed the subject. "Have you ever seen a Roman and a Greek demigod fight together, as one unit, one power?"

"No."

"Yes, you have actually." He grabbed Alice's arm and pulled her next to him after she shrieked. A spider had jumped on her and a rat had run between her legs.

"And who would that be?" I crossed my arms and raised my eyebrows defiantly.

Fish grinned at me. "You. And me. And anybody else like us." He waved in front of him vaguely. "You see, Em-Em-"

"Don't call me that."

He ignored me and continued. "-we are created to be a Roman and Greek warrior as a single power. Of course, we're not born that way so we have side effects." He sent me a pitying look. "Some of us become animals, like me, and others have common defects, like you." I glared at him for calling me a common defect. He ignored it but sifted a bit to the side, a little afraid of what I could do to him in such a small space. "Since we're both Greek and Roman, we get along with both and we aggravate both sides equally." He patted Alice's shoulder. "Which is why Allie here snapped at you like that."

Softly, I murmured, "Oh." Then I held out my hand and arm for Alice to attach to again. When she did I looked back to Fish. "So how come I was carted off to the Greek camp? Wouldn't there be a debate of where I was supposed to go?"

He shook his head. "Hypnos is your dad and he's Greek so naturally you'd go to Camp Half-Blood." He shook his head again. "We fight like both but we aren't both." He looked at me curiously. "Get it?"

"Sort of," I mumbled, stepping forward.

Then I fell through the floor.

I fell and fell and fell until I finally hit the bottom. The way down was a blur of infinite darkness. I couldn't see anything or hear the shouts of my friends. Only endless black and a deep rushing sound of wind around me. I tumbled through the air, desperately reaching out and trying to grab on to anything, despite Rosie's cries of staying still.

I hit my head hard on the ground. I reached behind my head. Blood was dripping out. I closed my eyes and let Rosie take over. The pain still throbbed in the back of my head but when I touch it the blood wasn't falling out anymore. I nibbled on a bit of ambrosia. It barely helped. I winced standing up. Then I noticed it. Silence. Pure and absolute silence.

Automatically I reached for my hearing aids and felt them, cracked and broken, parts missing and shattered in the darkness. Crap. I couldn't see or hear anything. I was Helen freaking Keller without the insanity. But I felt myself breaking. Angry I threw them off and to the ground.

Rosie's words appeared in my head, like subtitles but in Greek. It was how I thought when I couldn't hear. My thoughts didn't echo inside me like a studium. They appeared as words. I don't know how many other deaf people think like this. I asked another kid at my old school, the one before all of this happened. They couldn't explain it. Maybe it was because Rosie lived inside my head and this was how we were going to communicate anyway and the gods thought, _'Let's make it less awkward for the child and start her off early.'_

'_If you can't, I can't so don't bother asking me to hear for you,' _were the words, her name and a colon written right before like a script. Bitterly was added just after the colon in brackets. I chuckled to myself.

'_Got it, ma'am,' _was my reply.

Blindly I patted the walls around me and tested each step for placing all my weight on it, trying to make sure I didn't fall through another layer of weak ground. Well, I can tell you I sort of know how Shane feels now. AND IT'S EXTREMELY ANNOYING! I am so happy I am deaf and not blind. I'd never live. I'd probably get hit by a bus. Maybe a train.

_'Stop your damn negativity, retard,' _Rosie said snippily.

I snorted. _'Yes. Call the person whose body you're in a retard.'_

_'I didn't need the permission but thanks anyway!'_ Rosie is a master at sarcasism.

I had an extra pair of hearing aids in my backpack. But Alice had that. She had mine, hers and Fish's - which was actually Charles's one, the one he left behind when he ran off to plan our deaths - backpacks on her person so that meant all I had were matches, my sword and some packaged ambrosia I put in my pocket just in case I couldn't reach my bacpack. It was then I realized how screwed I was.

My hands patted the ground and the walls searching for something I could light on fire. I grabbed on to something solid and cheered. Mentally of course. Then as I tried to pick it up I realized that the thing I was gripping was taller. Up and up my hands went before I touch the something Marcus refers to as "a hand." Very slowly I dropped my hand back to the ground and used it to push myself up.

"One moment," I said to the thing in front of me. I tried yelling it but I'm not to sure if I did.

Fumbling I pulled out a match and lit it. Turning back around I came face-to-chest with a tall boy. A tall familiar boy. A tall familiar backstabbing boy.

_Charles._

I cleared my throat noisely. And then weakly pointed to my ears, showing him my uncovered ears. He grinned wickedly. Then, slowly, very, very slowly, he leaned over and blew out my match.

I couldn't move fast enough. His hand shoved my neck roughly against the wall. I felt my previous head wound reopen and start to free blood out. I choked and as Rosie tried to seep her healing powers of awesomeness into me I wouldn't let it. It's not that I didn't want to because, belive me, I did. I really, really did. But I was in panic and struggling to pull Charles's hands away from my neck. So having her trying to take control of my hands to do who knows what freaked me out and I slammed her back behind the wall, severing our connection until the time I would reopen it agian. But I was too scared and too panicky to realize what I done.

My brain moved as fast as it could, losing precious oxygen and beginning to fail, to think of something, anything I knew about Charles. A weakness. Anything. I tried to remember my conversations with Ben.

Then it all came back with a force I somehow managed a ragged gasp.

_"_And you were there so I figured I'd do it to keep you," he had said. I didn't understand what he meant at the time but now I understood it.

Fish was a part of Charles.

Somehow he had been put into Charles even though Charles had been alive way before Fish was born.

My eyes darkened and I tried to speak as loudly as I could feel I was. My nails dug into Charles's skin. "I am-" His eyes widened and he tightened his grip, snarling lowly. "-your sister," I choked out with the last bit of oxygen I had.

His finger loosened and his eyes flashed brighter. Seriously. They flashed. I took this moment to inhale as much as I could and swung my leg up, ramming him right in his baby making parts. Charles's form crumbled to the ground and I took off, praying I hadn't fallen into a cage or a box or something. The direction I was running in seemed endless. I had my sword swinging in front of me, eyes peering through the darkness, trying to see the impossible. Stupid darkness. It just has to make me believe I'm running in circles.

A snarl ripped through the air in fron of me. I swore. Aw fuck. Tackled down by a large dog, I hit my head again. Rosie broke through the wall just in time to take over and scream, "STOP IT!" I couldn't hear her scream it of course. But, you know, I felt my throat go raw and her words were written it my head too.

The dog's body ripped itself away from me.

_'It's okay,' _Rosie said. _'I've got it.'_

And then a light glow appeared. It took me a few minutes to realize the light was coming from my sword. Rosie pulled it up and pointed it to Charles who was human now and seemed to be in conflict with himself. Boys are so stubborn.

My sword kept glowing until it had turned into a bow and arrow. Oh yeah, daughter of Apollo. Bows were suited best for her. She pulled back the string, golden and glowing bright yellow light, and let it go. It shot straight. Straight, straight, straight and then.

Boom. It hit him in the arm. Charles screamed out in pain as a yellow fire shot up and over his arm, spreading like wildfire out to his chest. His cries lessened, eyes softer, mouth falling slack, and he just looked at me as my legs started running away from him. I peeked behind me just to see him as he stared at me, no longer screaming. The fire was still spreading. And the way he looked at me made me feel weird. Like I had betrayed a friend. But I hadn't. She did. And she didn't betray a friend. She bretayed a brother, a sibling. And I knew, even without the experience, that that could kill a person, shatter their hearts into million pieces.

I looked away as Rosie's tears welled up behind my eyes like a weak dam holding back overflowing water, threatening to spill at any moment, to collaspe, to snap, to spill.

To break.

A single tear escaped from behind my eye and the rest of the tears were sniffed away, tucked away for later purposes.

* * *

><p>I peered around the corner. For the last hour, I've been on edge, peeking around corners and praying that wouldn't I get caught. So far so good right?<p>

It didn't help that I couldn't hear either. Hah. This will probably be the one time I'll ever want to hear because if I live I am not going on any other quest. The world can fail and perish. I will sit in my house, cabin, whatever and read a book. I am never, ever, ever, ever, ever going on another quest. Ever.

The world can go screw itself.

I slid out of the corner and tiptoed down a different hall. A sharp woodsy scent filled my nose and I pressed my back up sharply against a wall. I held my breath and prayed that my great-grandfather, Erebus, would allow me to blend in with the shadows. It didn't work because when I next opened my eyes and looked both ways I saw a dark figure come stomping down towards me.

So I slashed my sword outwards as it neared and sliced off the being's leg. It crumpled to the ground and I kicked it in the face, watching in sick amusement as it collasped. The woodsy scent was stronger, a little bit of metal mixed in with it. Blood. It was scary how easily I was beginning to change as I dove deeper and deeper into Dr. Howard's lair but every step of the way Rosie cheered me on and repeated that I was fine, everything was fine and we'd all get out alive.

I didn't believe one word. Not one.

Regardless I charged on through, slicing down teenager after teenager, human after human. The thing was none of them changed into anything or fought back which made me worry that maybe I wasn't killing the enemy but people who had managed to escape confinement and were trying to get out. But I had no other choice than to shove those thoughts to the back of my mind and summon the part of me that was a ruthless, cold-blooded killer. The part Dr. Howard had created. The part I was afraid of.

But what else are you supposed to do when you don't who is good and who is bad? So I had no choice. And the whole time Rosie cheered while I sunk deeper and deeper into the place I didn't want to go to.

I brought my sword down on to the person's chest and turned around as I ran off. To be honest, I think it's a heck of a lot easier to kill someone when they're older and when hearing their cries of pain is an option. Sometimes silence is better. But of course, you can't know that until you've gone through it. I ducked through another door and ran down another hallway. I passed through windows of kids as young as three and as old as fifteen lay in cots with liquids flowing into their veins, people hovering over them as they scribbled things down on a note pad. I resisted the urge to ram my body into those rooms and beat the living crap out of those assholes for letting themselves get involved in human experimentation. Illegal, deadly human experimentation.

But I didn't. I continued running, the white lab coat I was wearing flowing out behind me. No one bothered to spare me a second glance because I was wearing it. As I passed through another corridor, darting by people uninterested in me and slashing down a few who noticed that I wasn't part of their world, a deep salty scent hit my nose. I stumbled backwards. It was powerful. And just really sudden.

_'FISH! SAVE ME FROM THIS MONSTER WHOSE BODY I HAVE TO LIVE IN! BROTHER, PLEASE!' _Rosie's thoughts read, my feet moving of their own accord.

_'I so feel the love.' _I enjoyed the fact that annoyed was written as well.

Fish's eyes widened as we barreled down the hallway, Rosie forcing my arms to open as she yelled for safety away from me inside my head. Then I noticed five guards behind them. Two were gripping Alice's arms and the other two were gripping Fish's. I froze. The leftover guard started to move forward so I started walking backwards. We both quickened our paces until she was running full speed towards me and I had turned around and was sprinting away. I rounded a corner into a hallway I hadn't been through and stumbled into a large white room.

Nico was chained to a chair, a laser in front of him pointing to his crotch. Ben was being suspended over a pit of fire and Jessica was being held by a creepy guy with blonde hair who was groping one of her breasts. I stepped back and saw Dr. Howard smirking at me. He looked the same as he did when we first met. I blinked and then surveyed the room again coming to one conclusion. My doctor watched way to many movies.

"You watch way too many movies," I concluded.

He stared at me and then started to laugh. I stared at my doctor with an odd look as he did the whole I'm-an-evil-guy-mwahahahah laugh. Then a sharp pain slammed into my head and I passed out.

* * *

><p>A booming noise woke me up. I jolted up and screamed. My throat burned and I pushed myself back against whatever I was restrained against. I relaxed, my head drooping as I inhaled harshly, trying to get rid of the linger pain. I looked to my hands and my feet. My hands were bound to a pole pressing along the length of my shoulder, stretching out from my sides. My feet were bound too, tightly shoved together. Overall I'd look like a cross. I blinked and then laughed quietly to myself. I was on a cross. I was being crucified. Now I know how Jesus felt.<p>

I looked in front of me. Our bags had been thrown in a pile. They were all open. I tried twitching my ear. It was hard because of the substance wrapped around it. Figures. I looked around me. Of course I'd be forced to hear the screams of my friends as they were put to death in the most clichéd of ways. Fish had a target drawn on his naked chest and his hands, waist and feet were tied to a Styrofoam wall. He kept flinching every time someone came past the gun and ammo laying a few feet away. Alice was in a box. It had little holes on it so she could breathe. She was suspended above a pit of water filled with stingrays and cookie cutter sharks.

So Nico was going to be severed in half by a laser, Ben was going to be burned, Jessica raped then killed, Fish for target practice and Alice stung and torn into itty-bitty pieces.

I wanted puke.

"What do you think, Emily?" a voice asked. "Won't it be fun to watch them suffer?"

A chill slivered down my spine. Dr. Howard was a few feet away from Alice. He ran his finger over the box she was in. He held out his arms, bumping the box slightly. I winced as Alice moved a little to balance herself. So far nothing happened.

"Will you join my cause?" A sinister smile darkened his face. "Or will your pretty princess be the first to die?"

_'Don't do or say anything. Let me,' _Rosie insisted.

I wanted to protest but something about the way she spoke made me feel she could. Plus, I'd most likely agree to join Dr. Howard to stop Alice, _my best friend_, from being murdered in front of my eyes.

_'Okay,'_ I thought. _'Deal.'_

_'Great.'_

And for the first time I finally found where Rosie stayed while I was in control. I felt a rush and then warms hands pushed me back and image of smiling girl with blonde hair guiding me. She looked so much like my Alice I couldn't help but take a little gasp. Then the image disappeared and I was alone in an empty room. It was black and white, like you see in those really old photos. I was the only thing in colour. I was in a kitchen but there was no food, no water. I could turn on the stove but no flames appeared. Just the warmth and the sound of crackling fire.

The rest of the house was empty except for little things like an dusty doll on the center of the floor of one room and an empty fish bowl in the basement. I wondered why there would be a fish bowl in a basement. It's not like the basement could be anyone's bedroom. It was small, covering about 25 square feet of space. A bed would barely fit and leave any space for the rest.

The bathroom was dusty too but it had the most of out all the rooms. A tub was in the corner and a mirror hung above the sink. The toilet was next to it and a cupboard was across from it. The biggest room was the most empty one. Nothing was in it. Nothing. The living room was across from the kitchen as I descended the stairs and crossed the hallway into it. It had a single couch and a small dining table on it. On the table of was a picture of a little girl and her mother. I made out in the background, a few feet away from the girl, a scowling boy. I flipped over the picture.

_Mom (right), Alice (left), Daniel (in the back)_

Daniel had been scratched out and someone had written something above it but that had been scratched out too and Daniel was scribbled in angry scrawl above that. I traced the scratches and the room filled with colour. I dropped the picture, stepping back.

A blue-haired boy was hovered over something on the table. He had a pencil in one hand. Grinning he put the picture back on the stand and ran off before I could see his face. But I already had a feeling of who it was. I looked at the picture. The boy had scribbled out the first Daniel and wrote in messy, barely literate scrawl FISH. A tall woman stepped in. Fish's mom, I guessed. She lifted the picure up and stroked the girl's face. Then she put the picture down and began to walk away. But she noticed the pencil lead that had rubbed off on her fingers. Her eyes widened and she grabbed the picture and angrily checked the back.

Snarling she dropped the picture and yelled, "DANIEL!"

I followed her as she stormed to the basement. Fish was curled on a sleeping bag, flipping through a picture book. A goldfish was in the bowl swimming back and forth. Fish looked to his mother, saw her angry eyes and fear invaded his own. He scrambled up to his feet looking like he was ready to run but before he could she slapped him hard across the face. He choked down a yell and fell back to the floor. His mother went in for another smack and knocked over his fish bowl. Water spilled to the floor, the goldfish flopping on the dry wood as it had been flown farther than the water. Fish's eyes widened and he went to go get it. His mother noticed and stepped on the fish, a squishing noise releasing from under her feet. Fish froze and then fear was pushed out, replaced by anger and hatred. He lunged.

I scrambled back up the stairs to the ground floor. I didn't want to see what would happen to either of them. A sobbing noise woke me up from my panic. The little blonde girl that was in the picture was curled up against a wall next to the doorway to the outside. Her hands were dug into her head and her head was lowered. She choked out a muffled sob as a strangled scream, male, could be heard from below. Her knees inched closer to her. The door slammed opene then shut, a young boy dressed in black stepping in quickly. He looked around wildly and started towards the basement door as Fish let out another yelp of pain.

The girl grabbed his ankle. "Don't," she whispered. "He hates being saved."

The boy looked at the girl incredulously. "Rosie," murmured, dropping to her height. He brushed her bangs away from her eyes. "I was looking for you actually."

"You're such a liar, Nico," Rosie laughed, sniffling and releasing another sob. She threw her arms around his neck. "Make them stop."

Nico pulled her up. "I wasn't lying and I can't." Her legs wrapped around his waist and he grunted as he adjusted to the extra weight. "But I can make you stop crying."

Then he took her out the door and away from her family. As the door closed shut I heard her whisper, "Thank you."

Then the colour was gone, the screaming had stopped and the door I looked at had vanished, leaving behind a black wall, no impression a door had ever been there. I looked at the picture on the ground and put it back on the stand. I went back to the basement and touch the empty fish bowl. Once again colour returned to the dusty house and the empty fish bowl disappeared, my fingers hovering alone in the air. I looked around me and headed upstairs. Nico was standing in front of Fish. A tall blonde haired boy was next to him. Fish was smiling.

"What'd you get me? What'd you get me?" he squealed.

Nico presented him with the fish bowl, the lonely goldfish swimming in it boredly. Then it noticed that a son of Poseidon was in the room and practically forced itself against the walls of its confinement to get a closer look. Nico grinned. "Like?"

Fish snatched the bowl from his hands and lifted the bowl into the air like Rafiki holding Simba in the Lion King. "I SHALL CALL HIM DAVE AND HE WILL BE MINE AND HE WILL BE MY DAVE!"

The blonde boy pushed up his glasses and frowned. "Dave? Why not give it a smarter name?"" Nico looked like he was trying not to laugh. The blonde boy mockingly tapped his chin thoughtfully. "What about Peter?"

Fish blinked. "But your name's Peter."

"So?"

"So it's not a smart name."

Peter's gray eyes darkened. Fish gulped. "So you're saying the son of Athena is a moron." He stalked to Fish. Fish clutched his bowl closer to him and let out a squeak.

"I didn't say that."

"Well you must've have been thinking it because I'm the son the Athena and my name is Peter." The boy reached for Fish who was looking around for escape. "And you said Peter isn't a smart name."

"IDIDN'TMEANITLIKETHAT!" Fish shrieked before dodging the other boy's punch. He lovingly placed Dave in Nico's arm and then ran around the living room as Peter chased him, making violent threats for calling him a stupid idiotic moron. Peter apparently takes thing way out of proportion.

A girl with white hair hopped on to Nico's back. The boy remained emotionless. I wondered if anything surprised him.

"What's going on?" the girl asked, blowing a blue bubble of gum above Nico's head.

It popped but Nico didn't even blink. "Peter is trying to kill Fish for calling him a moron."

The girl sighed, "Petey, he probably didn't mean it." She paused. "Or say that either, silly." She raised her arms out. "Come pick me up."

Peter stopped chasing Fish who tripped over his own feet and fell on his face as soon as the girl opened her mouth. He nodded mutely and pulled her from off of Nico's back. She wrapped her legs around his waist and snuggled into his chest. She gave him a short peck to the cheek. Fish moaned and reached up. Nico gave him back Dave.

"Hello, Davie. My name's Fish. I will be your master now."

The goldfish glued itself to the fish bowl's walls and I swear its puny little eyes grew wider as Fish drew his face closer to the bowl to admire his fish. Hey, a fish for a Fish. Hah. Funny.

Rosie stepped out of the kitchen, dusting what seemed to be flour from her hands. "Fish," she began, looking up. "I've finished the cake if you want to-" She stopped as she surveyed the room. "What are you guys doing here?" Her eyes narrowed upon seeing Nico. "What are _you _doing here?"

Nico opened his mouth, probably to let out a snarky reply, judging by the way they glared at each other but the white haired girl beat him to it. "I'm here because I sensed Peter was going to do something bad. Peter's here for the party. Fish is here because it's his birthday and Ben-" she pointed to the quiet brown haired boy I do not recall ever seeing. "-is here because Fish is his boyfriend and as I said it's Fish birthday." She patted Nico's head. "Nico's here for the party too. And he wanted to give Fish his birthday present fish."

"ITS NAME IS DAVE!" FIsh yelled from the floor. Everyone looked at him. "THIS BOWL IS REALLY HEAVY BY THE WAY!"

"Oh." Peter dropped his girlfriend to the ground and went to help Fish up.

The white haired girl hummed. "I'll get the cake!" She grabbed Ben by his collar. "You have to help me ice it and cut it up!"

"But I've already-" Rosie began to protest.

The girl gave her a menacing stare. Rosie went quiet.

Peter dragged Fish to his "bedroom" (you really can't call something that pathetic a bedroom) with one hand, the other holding the heavy fish bowl. "Let me help you put this away, Fish-face."

"Huh? Oh I can do that Pete."

Peter yanked Fish up to his level. "Let. Me. Help. You."

Fish was only capable of nodding and being dragged to his room.

Nico shifted uncomfortably, the glare softening. "Hey," he whispered.

Rosie whispered, "Hey."

They stood in the silence. Nico shrugged his shoulders back. "So-" He paused awkwardly. "-weather's nice."

She looked around. "We're in a house."

He rocked on his heels. "So read anything new lately?"

"I'm dyslexic."

"So what's up?"

"The ceiling."

Nico really sucks at small talk. Really sucks at it. And it's clear he has not gotten better with age. Rosie pointed out his suckiness.

"You suck at small talk."

"I know."

"Don't worry. I do too."

"I know."

She growled. "You fucking ass. How dare you!" She slapped him across the face.

Nico blinked and then looked pissed off. "What," he snarled, "WAS THAT FOR?"

"You act like you know everything about everyone! You know nothing about me!"

"All I said was I know! How does that make me act like I know everything about everyone!"

"Because you do that all the time jerkwad!"

"Dumb bitch"

"Asshole."

"Cunt."

"Dick."

He shoved her up against the wall roughly. "I know I have one sweetheart so I guess thinking about it makes you a whore like your mother."

She slapped him hard. "Don't ever-" she prodded him in the chest. "-talk about my mother again."

Nico stepped back mutely, his hand ghosting up to the red imprint on his cheek. Rosie wiped away the tears spilling from her eyes as she ran up the stair to her room. I looked to the stairwell, leading to the basement.

Fish popped his head out from it. "Nico?"

I looked back to where Nico had been. No one. The door could be heard slamming shut and Fish's shoulders sagged.

Colour disappeared again and the dust settled around Fish's old bedroom. The fish bowl reappeared in front of me and I couldn't help but trace it. He probably didn't get presents often if a fish made him happy. And then his mother killed it just because he didn't like his given name. What kind of woman did that to her own child?

"An evil one," Rosie's voice muttered from behind me. "Now hurry up. You've got things to do and people to save."

"Huh?"

She didn't answer. Instead that rush came back and I saw my friends in front of me staring in horror. I looked at my hands. I wasn't being bound anymore. Then Fish yelled out "BEHIND YOU! BEHIND YOU!"

I whirled around and bought my sword up quickly. It sliced lightly through the skin of a little kid and I withdrew it almost automatically.

"IGNORE IT!" Fish commanded. "IGNORE IT! THAT IS NOT A LITTLE KID! THAT IS A MONSTER!"

"Why Fish," Dr. Howard reprimanded, "that would make you a monster too then."

Fish ignored him. "KILL IT!"

The little kid lunged for me, mouth snarling and revealing sharp teeth. Like a bear. I stepped out of the way and brought the hilt of my sword down on his back. I couldn't. It was just a little kid. How could I kill something so young?

An image of a little boy covered in blood flashed by. He was surrounded by dead bodies. He had blue hair.

'This child will be like Fish if you don't. He will kill people like my brother did,' Rosie murmured. 'Please. Kill him.'

Just as the kid lunged at me again I shoved my sword through his chest. Blood. I resisted the urge to puke. So much blood dripped down my sword and on to my hand. This was the price I had to pay for safety? The child's body squelched as I pulled my sword out, his body falling limp and bloody to the floor.

'They're made to kill.' I could feel her smile. 'But Fish got away and Nico helped him and Ben taught him love and Alexis argued with him and Peter joked with him and I was there to watch him change. He's not a monster. He's... something different. Not completely human but not... completely insane.'

Dr. Howard smirked. "Well she did what you asked, Daniel. Are you happy?"

"I didn't care about that," he replied haughtily. "I just wanted to make sure my master got out without your noticing."

Dr. Howard's eyes widened and he whirled around wildly, a wrinkled hand reaching for me angrily. But before he could grab me a pale, cold hand snatched my arm and pulled me into the shadows. Nico's face was close to mine, close enough for me to lean up and fulfill those thoughts Alice had been having when we were in the van. He pressed a finger to his lips.

"Don't move. Don't talk. I'll get you in a minute," he whispered.

Then he disappeared back into the darkness. I kept still.

_'Where he did he put us? Well me but you know what I mean.'_

"It's an alcove above one of the experimenting rooms. Some escapees made it and Fish discovered it when he was exploring."

_'Speaking of Fish, what did he mean by master?'_

"Nico is his master."

_'Yeah, that tells me everything.'_

"I'll explain later."

_'You better. So what did you talk about with evil Dr. Ass?'_

"I agreed to be his sacrifice and when he let me go I revealed I wasn't you and laughed in his face before running away and letting you take over."

_'Say what?"_

"Did I ever tell you my dad gave me my weapon when I young and afraid of the monsters in my closet?"

_'You laughed in the face of death in my body?'_

"Or the time I thought I dreamt that Fish was wearing a dress but it actually turned out to be real and he didn't have any clean clothes and had to wear mine?"

_'What are you talking about!'_

"I have no idea."

After that we laid in the alcove in silence.

_'So Fish wore a dress once?'_

* * *

><p>Chapter 8 everyone.<p>

Hope you enjoyed it.

-Happykid44


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